Archive of Our Own

Minho looks at himself in his bedroom mirror. His body is wrapped up in his bathrobe, the skin around his collarbones still pink from the shower he just took. His eyes linger just for a moment on the image reflected in front of him, before they drop down towards the box placed on the top of his drawer, where a few different products are stacked one next to the other. 

From left to right, it’s an order he follows every morning. He skips some of the products sometimes, because they don’t need to be used every single day, but for the most part it’s a daily practice he has learned to get used to as if it had always been part of his morning routine. He can’t remember a time it wasn’t, anyway. 

First are the suppressants. He opens the small box containing the pills, popping one of them out and swallowing it down before he can even think of it. The bottle of water next to the box helps him wash it down. 

Second are the scent blocker patches. He opens one of the packets they’re stored in, taking it out and carefully placing it against his arm, making sure it’s sticking well to his skin. He then lifts one of his hands up, pressing his wrist against his neck gland and rubbing on it. The action makes him shiver lightly, but when he brings his wrist against his nose, he can’t smell any of his natural scent on it. 

Once that’s done, he grabs the cologne bottle next to the other products and brings it up to his neck, spraying an intense musky scent against his skin, right where a soft but sweet vanilla should be instead. 

Everytime he goes through this process, his mind is fully focused on these simple repetitive actions, any other thoughts or emotions pushed to the back of his mind where they won’t have a chance to distract him. And yet, right as he closes the box and stores it in the back of the drawer of his bedside table, a sigh always escapes from his lips. There’s a heavy feeling in the middle of his chest, but he knows it’ll go away in a few moments, like it always does. 

Once he’s done with that, he takes off his bathrobe and finds some fresh clothes to put on before he has to leave to go to class. He often stops to make sure none of his natural scent lingers on his clothes, bringing the fabric to his nose to smell it, sometimes spraying even more of his musky cologne on them. Just because he can. 

And then he just puts on his shoes, grabs his backpack and leaves his apartment, forcing his mind to completely forget about what he just did. 

The weather is nice today, just a tiny bit of the summer warmth lingering in the air as fall takes its place; a bright blue sky and a soft wind blowing every once in a while. Minho walks slowly, enjoying the fresh air and the warm feeling of the soft morning sun rays hitting his skin while he can. As he gets closer to his uni campus, he pulls his phone out of his pocket to check the time and he guesses he has enough time to grab himself a coffee before he gets to class. 

He pushes open the door of the café he usually goes to, giving himself a couple of seconds to get used to the overwhelming mix of scents in the air. Most of them are soft, almost imperceptible – typical of betas –  but Minho still struggles sometimes to ignore the stronger ones coming from the alphas. Bitter and intense, just like the scent coming from his own neck. 

He knew none of his friends would be here, so he grabs his coffee and gets out of the café as quickly as possible. He doesn’t dislike the café, but he prefers keeping his time in closed spaces like this as limited as possible, especially those near campus. If all of the scents don’t push him away, then the chance of finding one of the insufferable alphas from his classes sitting at one of the tables will. 

His morning goes smoothly for the most part, apart from some usual boredness kicking in towards the start of the second half of his class. Days like this are the ones where Minho lowers his defenses the most, relaxing and almost actually forgetting about the reason he covered himself in that musky cologne before leaving his apartment. 

Still, he’s never surprised when that sense of safety gets interrupted once again, even during these days when he least expects it. He likes to think he’s used to it, at this point.

It usually happens because of a small joke (though it hides something way bigger underneath), a joke coming out of the mouth of an alpha sitting on the other side of the room. It’s supposed to be light-hearted, because the people surrounding him all laugh and smile as the alpha yells at one of them “what are you, an omega?”. It’s supposed to be nothing, so that’s exactly how Minho reacts to it. He stays silent, pretends nothing happened, only grabs his backpack and slips his things back inside of it as he prepares to leave.

He promised himself a thousand times to not get bothered by those voices, and he swears he’s not going to. They’re impossible to shut up, impossible to stand up against because even if he did, he’d just be one against hundreds, if not thousands. So he just does what he knows is best for him. He hides what is not necessary for other people to know and shows himself as something that will give him free admiration instead. 

It isn’t that hard of a job to do, anyway. Apart from the few minutes that he has to spend every morning making sure everything’s fine, once he’s outside there isn’t much he needs to be cautious about. It’s easy, or at least, that’s what he tells himself. 

It’s the best option. If he can’t fight it, then he doesn’t wanna know any of it. He just wants to live as freely as he can, at least until he graduates. 

That thought is the one that gives him enough motivation to stand up and finally go, leaving behind the loud voice of the alpha and his friends who are still engrossed in their jokes and empty conversations. 

♡

Minho takes a deep breath when he’s finally outside of the building he was in, enjoying the fresh air devoid of bright and intense scents. He takes his phone out of his pocket after a few steps, checking the time and wondering what he should do. He has another class in the afternoon, a couple of hours from now, so he guesses the two options he has are either to spend them alone, maybe in the library getting some work done, or to look for his friends. He doesn’t know for sure if either of his closest friends are free at the moment, so he takes his phone and opens his chat with one of them to ask him. He stops on the edge of the pavewalk to type a quick message, but before he can send it, he hears someone calling his name.

“Minho hyung!”

Minho’s head lifts up, his eyes immediately meeting Hyunjin’s smiling face. He’s running towards him, his long hair swaying in the air, and he stops right next to him once he gets close enough to talk. 

“Hi,” Hyunjin says, smiling at him. “Are you going to class?” he then asks. 

“No,” Minho answers, slipping his phone back into his pocket. “I was about to text Felix. Have you seen him around?” 

“He told me he was at the picnic tables near the grounds at around ten, so maybe he’s still there,” Hyunjin says, starting to walk beside him. “He’s not replying to me, but I’m going there anyway. Do you wanna come too?” 

“Sure,” Minho says. “I don’t have anything else to do until two.” 

Him and Hyunjin walk slowly, chatting every once in a while about their days. Hyunjin seems to be way more enthusiastic than him to share about his day, but Minho doesn’t mind listening. It took them a while to become friends, but Hyunjin’s presence is one that Minho appreciates in his life. His scent is soft, even when he’s walking right beside him, something floral and delicate, almost hard to notice. During bad days, Hyunjin sort of feels like a fresh breath of air, although Minho isn’t sure just how much he can actually trust him. After all, you can’t be that close to someone while keeping a big secret from them. 

They arrive at the grounds a few minutes later. Minho looks towards the area with the picnic tables, trying to find his other friend among the various people that are sitting there. 

“There they are,” Hyunjin says before Minho can find anyone, pointing his finger towards one of the tables. 

The group of people that was waiting for them there is bigger than Minho expected, but he still recognizes all of the people present when he gets close enough to look at them. Or, close enough to smell their scents. 

His best friend Felix is there, as well as what Minho thinks of as Hyunjin's boyfriend, Jeongin (though as far as he knows, they’re not officially together yet). Their scents are not the ones that catch Minho’s attention, because they’re too faint and almost completely buried under the one of the other person sitting at the table. 

Minho’s gaze moves towards the other side of the table, finding Bang Chan sitting there. He isn’t technically part of their small friend group, but Minho isn’t too surprised to find him there, since Felix has been spending a lot of time with him lately. And that’s the only reason why Minho knows him at all. He’s never really intended to get close to him, mostly because Minho always feels a certain sense of hesitation when it comes to alphas; but being so close with Felix made it inevitable for them to meet more than Minho would’ve initially preferred, even though it’s been a while since Minho saw him last.

“We’re here,” Hyunjin announces, swinging his bag onto the table before sitting down next to Jeongin. “Hi.”

Felix and Chan, sitting on the other side of the table, finally look up after hearing Hyunjin’s voice. Surprisingly, Chan is the first to speak. “Ah, Minho, I haven’t seen you in forever,” he says, smiling at him. 

“Hi,” Minho says, smiling back because he feels like he has to. “So, what are we doing here?” he asks then, taking his backpack off his shoulder but not sitting down yet.

“We were trying to study,” Felix says, shrugging his shoulders. “We’ve been here for a while, though, so we might leave soon.” 

Hyunjin’s head turns towards him, interrupting whatever conversation he was having with Jeongin to say, “I’m kinda hungry. Do you guys wanna go grab something at the café?” 

“I’m hungry too, not gonna lie,” Felix murmurs. 

“Should we all go, then?” Chan proposes.

Minho doesn’t have any reason to disagree, so he nods, grabbing his backpack once again and waiting for his friends to get up from the table so they can get to the café. Once they’re all standing and ready to leave, it’s Chan who approaches him first. He starts walking right next to him, his musky scent stronger than Minho’s ever will be. It would almost make him nervous, if he wasn’t already acquainted with him. 

“Felix told me you don’t know many people here on campus,” he tells him then. “You can always come hang out with us. I can even invite you to some parties, if you’d like.” 

Minho smiles, somehow expecting that Felix would talk about him to Chan. He nods, pulling out the same excuse he always uses in these situations. “Ah, sure. It’s just, you know, I’ve been a bit busy with school work, so.” 

If there’s one thing that he tends to avoid above all, those are parties. Alcohol and a secret to keep are not the best combination. 

“Yeah, I get that,” Chan says. “Well, the invite is still open for when you’re not so busy anymore.” 

“I’ll keep it in mind, thanks,” Minho says. 

Chan smiles at him, his eyes squeezing. Minho isn’t surprised that Felix and him became friends. They’ve got the same energy, both friendly and extroverted. They surely seem to get along quite well, because just a moment later they start talking animatedly about something they both like, their voices and laughters loud as they walk next to Minho, trying to include him in the conversation as much as they can. 

They soon arrive at the café. After ordering something to eat and drink, they find themselves a table to sit at. Minho enjoys their time together, spending all of his free time there with them until he eventually has to leave to get to his next class. When their group splits up, Felix decides to come with him since he doesn’t have anything to do until he also starts his afternoon class later on. 

“That was nice, right?” Felix asks him as they’re walking. “Chan hyung asked me to hang out again later in the afternoon, so if you change your mind you can always come. Just putting it out there, you don’t need to reply,” he says, smiling at him when they arrive at Minho’s class. “Just consider it.” 

Minho nods, even though he doesn’t think he’ll change his mind. 

“Okay, bye hyung! See you later.” 

Minho watches him leave, smiling back when Felix turns around again to wave at him. 

♡

He has two more classes that day, but by the time it’s halfway through the afternoon he gets to finally go back home. Sometimes, when he isn’t too busy, he likes to stay out a little longer, but the thought of all of the assignments he has yet to work on pushes him to give up on that idea for today. 

There’s a soft noise coming from the tv when he opens the door and closes it back again. Minho’s eyes search through the space of his apartment, immediately finding his best friend and roommate sitting on the sofa in the living room. 

Felix’s head lifts up at the sound of the door closing. “Hi, hyung,” he says. “You’re back already.” 

Minho takes off his shoes, humming. “You’re here? I thought you’d be hanging out with Bang Chan today.” He takes his backpack off his shoulder, placing it on the floor next to the sofa as he walks towards the kitchen sink to get himself a glass of water. 

“Yep,” Felix nods. “So, have you changed your mind? Do you wanna come too?” he then adds. “Hyunjin and Jeongin are coming as well.” 

“Ah, thank you Yongbokkie,” he says, feeling a slight pang of guilt hitting him. He could go. He had hung out with Bang Chan and his friends a couple of times already, so he thinks he knows what he should expect from them, but for now the idea of staying at home for the afternoon is slightly more appealing. “I have some stuff to work on today, but maybe another time?” 

“That’s okay. Just know you can come with us anytime.” Felix says, smiling at him. “I think you deserve some good friends, you know? It can be a little hard to find them, but I promise Chan and his two best friends are nice.” 

“I trust you,” Minho says, looking down at his glass of water, now empty. “I’m just a bit busy lately. Way too many assignments to finish.” 

Felix nods. “That makes sense.” 

“What are you watching?” Minho asks him, making his way towards the sofa where Felix is sitting. 

“Just whatever random movie was on this channel when I turned the tv on,” he explains. “I’m not actually watching, I was just bored waiting to go out.” 

When Minho sits next to him, Felix’s soft and comforting scent finally finds him. Minho’s not that big on cuddling, but he can’t deny that it helps him to have Felix close like that, even when his friend places his head on his shoulder or gets way too clingy with him. There aren’t many other people that Minho feels comfortable enough to be this close to. Hyunjin, maybe. But with Felix it’s always going to be a little different. 

“You’re sure you don’t wanna come too?” Felix asks him one more time, a few minutes later when he’s slowly getting ready to leave. 

“Yeah, it’s fine,” Minho says. “Are you eating out tonight? ‘Cause I was thinking of cooking something.” 

“I don’t know yet but I’ll make sure to text you later,” Felix replies. “Bye hyung, remember to take some breaks from your assignments.”

Minho watches him leave before he finally walks towards his room. He changes into more comfortable clothes, dropping on his bed and letting out a soft sigh. 

He lays there for a while, taking a little bit of time to recharge his energies before he has to start working on his assignments. His left hand presses against his right arm, moving up slowly until his fingers find the edges of his scent patch hidden under the thin fabric of his shirt. There are days where he takes it off, if he knows he won’t be going anywhere else for the day, but it’s always an issue to erase every trace of his scent if he does so. Thankfully scent patches are affordable enough for him, since hiding his secondary gender without them would be a thousand times harder, if not straight up impossible. His suppressants already do a little bit of the trick, but they’re not strong enough to completely wipe away his scent alone. 

Before he finds himself too deep into thoughts he’d prefer to avoid, he gets up, grabbing his backpack to get his laptop and a couple of his notebooks from it and walking towards his desk to start studying.

He works for hours, forcing himself to take some breaks as Felix reminded him to do, and once the time to make himself some dinner comes, he’s pretty happy with how much he was able to get done. He takes his phone from the spot on his desk where he’d left it ignored for all that time, unlocking it to check if Felix has sent him any texts. All he finds is a “I’m eating out today hyung, but in case you’re still making something, leftovers are always appreciated as you know ;)” 

Minho shakes his head with a small smile on his lips, taking his phone with him as he gets up and leaves his room to go to the kitchen. His stomach rumbles, hungry after he’s burnt off all of his energy studying. He decides to make himself something simple, purposely making the portion a little bigger than he needs for himself just so he can leave some leftovers for Felix. 

As he sits down to eat, he takes his phone and opens one of his social media apps, with the intention of scrolling down for a couple of minutes while his food cools down enough that he doesn’t burn his tongue while trying to eat. His attention gets grabbed by Felix’s icon on the top of his screen, and clicking on it Minho finds in front of himself a bunch of photos from what seems to be a karaoke room. Some of the photos on Felix’s story are just of the place they’re in, other photos show a little bit of the group of people he’s with, a face or two that Minho recognizes. Among those, there are Hyunjin and Jeongin, Bang Chan, and one last face that’s slightly familiar to Minho. 

He doesn’t know much else other than his name, though they’ve had opportunities in the past to get closer and get to know each other. Technically, Minho met him before Felix did. Since they share a couple of classes, they’ve worked before in a group project together. He was bearable, to say the least. Minho doesn't have very high expectations of alphas, but thankfully Han Jisung managed to exceed said terribly low expectations. Still, neither of them really made an effort to become friends once their group project was said and done, so they never talked to each other again since then. Minho saw him on one or two of the very few occasions he agreed to go out with Felix’s group, but he seemed to be quite shy despite his secondary gender, shy enough to not speak once to him. Not that Minho is the type to care too much about stereotypes, but even his friends Bang Chan and Seo Changbin were a lot louder in comparison, way more similar to the alphas Minho is so used to meeting around campus. 

Minho’s eyes linger for a moment on the last photo Felix posted, before leaving the app and placing his phone down on the table to finally start eating. His food has gotten colder than he wanted it to, but not cold enough to annoy him. Once he’s done eating, he goes back to his room and wraps up the last assignment he was working on before he took a break to eat, deciding to spend the rest of the evening watching some anime until it’s late enough to get to bed. He hears Felix come home right as he’s getting into bed and decides to get out of his room for one last time to say goodnight to him. Felix keeps him from going to bed for a while, starting to talk to him about everything interesting he’s seen and done outside and apologizing to him when he recognizes he’s talked a little bit too much. Minho doesn’t mind it, anyway. 

Finally free from Felix, he gets back to his room and goes to sleep. 

♡

The day after they leave together in the morning. Felix seems to be in a nice mood as he walks next to him, keeping their light conversation going with a new question or two every time he gets a little too bored just walking. They bump into Hyunjin when they’re close to campus, and their friend decides to join them. They walk together until they have to split once again, Minho heading towards a different direction compared to them. 

He gets to class early enough, happily finding his favorite seat next to the windows empty. Once he’s taken out from his backpack all he needs, he distracts himself with his phone, since the professor hasn’t arrived yet and there are still some minutes left before the lesson starts. He doesn’t realize how many minutes he spends there, getting more and more focused on the little game on his phone. So focused that when someone clears his throat next to him, he almost jumps. He barely noticed anyone so close to him on that row of seats. 

His eyes blink up from his phone, settling on a face he once again recognizes but that he didn’t expect at all to see this close, on such a random day. 

Han Jisung is standing next to him, his right hand gently placed on the back of the chair next to Minho’s. “Hi,” he says. “Can I sit here?” 

Minho blinks. Once. Twice. “Yeah..I guess? I wasn’t waiting for anyone.” 

Jisung’s lips curve in a small smile. A couple strands of his hair sway in front of his eyes as he pulls the chair back and sits down next to Minho. “Thought I’d ask anyway.” 

Jisung’s scent is way stronger now that he’s sitting next to him. Not as bitter as Minho remembered it to be, but something more chocolate-y. Sweet, although not as sweet as Minho’s real vanilla scent. 

Minho looks around. He was focused enough on the game he was playing not to notice that the room around him had gotten more full, but there are still a lot of empty seats. His eyes jump back on Jisung, watching him take his things out of his own backpack and wondering why he has chosen to sit next to him even though they haven’t talked in weeks. It can’t be something random, can it? 

“We haven’t talked since we last worked together,” Jisung says, looking back at him. 

“We haven't,” Minho easily agrees. “I didn’t think you wanted to be friends.” 

Jisung nods in what seems to be understanding. His eyes keep jumping back and forth between Minho’s and the desk, unable to keep still. Nervous. “I just thought, since our friend groups are coming together, it would make sense for us to be friends. Or at least, you know, sit together in class,” Jisung explains. “If you want,” he adds a little after. 

Minho looks at him. He still looks shy, even though he’s the one who approached him first. When they were working together, they didn’t talk that much, just enough to come together on how to work on their shared assignment. Still, Minho doesn’t have any bad memories from that time, so he guesses having him around wouldn’t be that bad. His scent isn’t too difficult to bear and he doesn’t seem the type to be too pushy with questions. 

“I’m fine with that,” he says. His left hand reaches up to his right arm, brushing against his skin until he finds his scent patch, hidden underneath his shirt. 

He hopes he doesn't regret it. 

Jisung smiles, visibly happy about his answer. “You didn’t come yesterday, at karaoke,” he then says, his expression turning more curious. 

Oh. Yesterday. Right. Minho’s eyebrows furrow as he starts wondering if this is happening because of Felix. Was he the one who asked Jisung to sit next to him in class? Knowing his friend really wants him to find more people he can be comfortable around, it wouldn’t be surprising if that were the case.  

“Yeah, I was just busy. Working on assignments,” Minho says. 

Jisung nods. “Makes sense.”

Their conversation gets interrupted there when the professor walks in and starts her lecture, but Minho spends the whole class highly aware of Jisung’s presence next to him. Still wondering if Felix had something to do with him wanting to be friends, or if it was just Jisung who wanted to for no other reason. 

They don’t talk about it anyway when they have time once the class is done. Minho puts his things back in his backpack, reminding himself that he has another class in ten minutes. 

“Do you..” Jisung starts, stopping probably because he noticed just how fast Minho is putting his things away and getting up from his seat. 

“Sorry, I have another class now,” Minho says. 

Jisung nods, smiling at him. “I’ll see you, then.” 

Minho returns the smile, more because he feels like he has to than any other reason. Even though they didn’t spend that much time together, he didn’t hate being around Jisung, and since he expects the worst from his classmates, Minho guesses he should be at least a little thankful. If anything, in case another group project comes up in the future, he’ll already have someone to work with. Someone he knows it won’t be totally unbearable to work with. 

Once Minho is outside, he remembers that technically he should still have Jisung’s number somewhere on his phone. If he didn’t delete it after they finished their group project, that is. Still, he doesn’t get time to check before he gets to his next class, and he ends up forgetting about it once he’s done with it. 

When he gets back home, he finds Felix there, busy in the kitchen while he’s making himself something to eat. “Hi hyung,” he says. “How was today?” 

Minho smiles back at him, dropping his backpack next to their sofa and walking towards Felix to curiously look at what he’s cooking. “It was alright,” he answers, following with his eyes the repetitive action of Felix’s stirring. “So, do you, by any chance, have anything to do with Han Jisung sitting next to me in class today?” he asks after a few quiet seconds, turning around so he can stand against the counter. 

Felix laughs, looking up at him. “Not really? He asked about you yesterday, though.” 

Minho’s eyebrows shoot up. “About me?” 

“Yeah, not in a weird way,” Felix says, nodding. “He just looked curious. He told me he asked ‘cause the other times we hung out together you were there too,” he explains, turning the heat off. “Kinda sweet, when you think about it,” he adds right after. 

Maybe it shouldn’t surprise him as much as it does, but Minho didn’t think that Han Jisung cared about him being there at all. The few times they spent together as a group, they barely talked or interacted at all, so Minho didn’t expect him to even notice his absence. 

“But honestly I think it’d be cool if you became friends,” Felix says a little after. “He seems funny.”

Minho snorts, remembering their short exchange. “Does he? He just seemed very awkward to me.” 

Felix slowly shakes his head, smiling. “Give him time. He is a bit shy, I guess. Wouldn’t speak to me once when I first met him. But Chan hyung said he’s great.”

“We’ll see, I guess,” Minho says, sighing. “You start making friends and suddenly I find myself surrounded by so many new people who want to befriend me too.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to overwhelm you, hyung,” Felix says, laughing and hugging his arm. “I can tell them to fuck off if they annoy you.”

Minho’s expression softens, a small smile forming on his lips. It’s moments like these that he realizes just how important Felix is to him. Minho thinks he couldn’t have found a better friend than him. He knew him even before they both went to university, but they weren’t that close until they started living together. Felix isn’t just his best friend, he’s also the only person outside of himself who knows .

To be fair, it wasn’t ever in his plans for Felix to know. Same way it wasn’t ever in his plans to present as an omega. The day it happened, they were already living together, so it would’ve been impossible for Minho to hide it from him. If it wasn’t his voice to speak, the strong scent of his pheromones was enough.

Fortunately, Felix never judged him for it. He gave him all of the help and the space Minho could’ve ever needed, even leaving their apartment for a few days and sleeping at someone else’s so that Minho didn’t have to feel ashamed about anything. He bought snacks for him and left them all at his door. Minho didn’t see them until his heat was basically gone, but he appreciated the help and thanked him a thousand times when Felix came back. 

He still is the only person that Minho feels like he can really trust. If not for the way he always helps him, then for the way he always keeps his secret without ever bringing it up, silently understanding just why Minho is doing it all. Sometimes even buying suppressants and scent blockers for him. 

Minho doesn’t even know how he would be doing if it wasn’t for him. 

“It’s okay,” he tells him, then. “I guess I should thank you for dragging me around and introducing me to people.”

Felix opens one of their cabinets, finding himself a plate. “Well, I didn’t say anything to Han Jisung, so that one isn’t because of me. You said you worked on a group project together before, right?” 

“Yeah. We’ve talked a little before. I was just surprised ‘cause he asked me to sit next to me today out of nowhere. We haven’t talked in so long,” Minho explains. “But I guess it would be awkward to ignore each other if we keep meeting outside of class.”

“Did you not wanna be friends with him?” 

Minho shrugs. “I didn’t really think about it.”

When Felix looks at him again, Minho can almost tell what he’s going to ask him. “Are you worried? Because he’s an alpha?”

“Well, I’d be worried the same if he was a beta,” Minho answers, sighing. “I’m fine though, don’t worry.” 

Felix nods, moving his stir fry to the plate. “Do you wanna watch something together today? I should start getting some work done, but I’ve got time,” he suggests then. 

Minho smiles. “I’m down for a horror movie.” 

Felix groans, taking his empty pan to the sink. “Does it have to be horror?”

“I’m just kidding. Whatever’s fine.”

♡

The next time Minho meets Jisung, it’s just a couple of days later, at another class they share. Minho arrives pretty early, and he’s surprised to find Jisung already there, sitting at one of the desks with his eyes low on his phone. Minho doesn’t even mean to draw his attention, but while he’s standing there trying to decide whether to approach him or not, someone a few inches away from him whispers to their friend “ damn, he smells good ”, and Jisung’s eyes lift up and spot him. 

Minho turns around towards the person who just made a comment about his fake scent, distractedly watching her apologize before turning once again towards Jisung’s direction. The alpha smiles at him, inviting him with a small gesture of his hand to come sit next to him. There’s no way that Minho is going to deny him, now. 

“Hi,” Minho tells him as he takes his backpack off his shoulder, sitting next to him. 

“Good morning,” Jisung replies, silently watching him while he’s taking his jacket off. Minho wonders if Jisung is thinking about his scent too, now. Being so close as they are right now, the thought of him paying too much attention to it makes Minho somewhat nervous. 

Thankfully, Jisung doesn’t mention it at all. He just grabs his phone once again and exits whatever app he was on before Minho sat next to him.  

“Do you usually come this early to class?” Minho asks him. “I swear I’ve almost never noticed you before you talked to me.”

“Ah, no, I don’t really,” Jisung answers, slowly shaking his head. “I just tried coming a bit earlier than usual so we could sit together again. There’s usually always someone sitting next to you when I arrive a bit later.”

Minho’s eyebrows lift up. “How long have you been trying to sit next to me?” 

Jisung laughs, embarrassed. “Not too long, don’t worry.”

“Mhm,” Minho nods, smiling amused. “I can save you a seat, if you want. Well, I can try.” 

“It’s alright. I don’t mind coming a bit earlier,” Jisung says. “I can eat breakfast with Chan hyung if I wake up earlier.” 

Minho presses his cheek against the palm of his hand, his eyes low on Jisung’s notebook. There are some pen scribbles on its cover. “Do you live together?” he asks him. 

“Yep. Me, Chan hyung and Changbin hyung,” Jisung says, smiling. He looks happy just mentioning them. “Have you met him yet?” 

Minho nods, jumping back with his memory to the only time he’s ever seen Changbin. “His scent is really..something.” He can’t remember much of it, but he does remember that it was probably the most bright and bitter scent Minho had ever smelled in his life. 

Jisung laughs lightly. “Yeah, it can be pretty intense. But he wears scent patches sometimes. When he feels like it.” 

“How considerate,” Minho says with a sarcastic tone. He shakes his head slowly, thinking about how much their house must stink. At least, Jisung’s scent isn’t really unpleasant. “I can’t imagine living with two other alphas.” 

“Do you live alone or..?” Jisung asks. 

“Nah, I live with Felix.” 

“You two are pretty close, right?” Jisung says, nodding. His eyes are set on Minho’s, attentive and curious at the same time. That’s the look of someone that wants to know and Minho’s not sure how much he’s willing to share. 

“Yes, we’re close. I’ve known him for a while,” he answers, still. 

Jisung nods. “I’ve also known Chan hyung and Changbin hyung for a while. Since high school.” 

Minho looks at him. His expression has softened a bit while talking about his friends, his eyes low once again on the surface of the desk and a small smile on his lips. Minho takes his time looking at him, silently observing those features that he barely paid any attention to when they first met a few weeks before. He can’t deny that Jisung is pretty, with his full cheeks and his fluffy hair falling on his eyes. 

He averts his gaze before Jisung can notice him staring, his focus shifting to the space around him when he sees the professor walking in. They don’t get to talk more once the class starts, apart from some random comments from Jisung during the lecture that somehow make Minho smile instead of annoying him as they usually would. 

About an hour later, when it’s time for them to split up again, Jisung stops him with another question before he leaves. “Are you free right now?” he says, looking back and forth between his phone and Minho’s face. “Chan hyung told me he’s in the library, and Felix is there too.” 

“The library,” Minho mumbles. “I’m pretty sure those two can’t shut up when they’re together. Interesting place they chose to go to.” 

Jisung shrugs, smiling. “Actually, it was Hyunjin’s idea,” he explains. “Do you wanna go there? I usually meet up with Chan hyung in between classes.” 

Hyunjin, Minho thinks, grabbing his backpack. He wonders how many people are gonna be there this time. He doesn’t really have anything better to do, so he agrees. “Yeah, let’s go,” he says, nodding. 

As they’re walking towards the library, Minho finds himself thinking that he really doesn’t mind Jisung’s company. He’s not so used to leaving class with someone by his side, but it’s something he thinks he could get used to very quickly, especially in situations like this where they both have to find their other friends. 

Felix seems happy to see them together when they finally arrive at the library. “You’re both here,” he says. 

There are once again more people than Minho expected sitting at their table, but they are all people Minho has seen at least once before. Changbin is one of them, sitting on the right edge of the table in front of another guy Minho knows is called Seungmin. Changbin’s scent isn’t as strong as Minho remembered it to be, so he assumes that today is one of the days where he decided to wear a scent patch, as Jisung told him earlier. 

The atmosphere is slightly different today; the table being way more quiet this time despite the fact that their group is bigger compared to the other time they were together. Minho sits next to Jisung, since there aren’t any other empty seats left, shooting a glance towards his best friend on the other side of the table and making a perplexed expression when he meets his curious eyes. 

After a while of trying to review his notes from the class he was just at, his eyes move to his right, where Jisung is working on something on his laptop. It takes him just a few seconds to recognize that the assignment Jisung is working on is the one that was assigned to them before they came here. Jisung seems to notice him looking, turning his head towards him. 

“I’m not excited about this one,” Minho murmurs. 

“It’s not that bad,” Jisung says. “Just gonna take a while to finish.” 

Minho nods. There are two other soft voices next to him, Hyunjin and Jeongin once again talking to each other. Minho can’t make out what they’re saying, but his brain seems to be more interested in their indecipherable conversation than the notes in his notebook. 

He tries to get some more work done while he’s here, but after a while he gives up, finding himself unable to focus that well. He’s always preferred studying at home, in his room, anyway. So, he starts putting his stuff away, feeling the weight of some eyes on him as he does so. 

“Are you going?” Jisung asks him quietly. 

Minho nods, pulling on his jacket. “Did you get bored too?” he asks then with a smile. 

Jisung looks back towards his laptop. “Sort of,” he says. “I need to leave soon anyway. My next class is in ten minutes. Can I come with you?” 

“Sure,” Minho answers, getting up from his seat and waiting for Jisung to get his things. “Let’s go.”

They say bye to their friends and leave the library, walking side by side towards the exit of the building they’re in. Minho asks Jisung where his class is, and decides to walk him there since he doesn’t have anything better to do in the meantime. 

“You know, we can study together if you want,” Jisung suggests at some point. 

Minho looks at him, almost not expecting him to talk. He was enjoying their comfortable silence. “I’ll think about it,” he then says. “I’m not the best at studying with someone else. Barely got any work done at the library.” 

Jisung laughs softly. His eyes squeeze when his lips curl in a smile. “Me neither, but I don’t think it really was about studying,” he says. 

“Well, y’all chose the best place to meet up. You can’t even talk in there,” Minho points out. 

“In my defense, it wasn’t my idea,” Jisung defends himself. “I think Hyunjin actually wanted to convince himself to study for real, but then he failed.” 

Minho smiles. “Sounds like him,” he says. “But I’ve also never seen him able to focus on anything with Jeongin sitting next to him, so I don’t know what he was hoping for.” 

Jisung’s expression grows curious. “Are they together..or?” 

Minho shrugs his shoulders. “Something of the sort,” he answers. “I’m afraid Hyunjin would go into a midlife crisis if I asked him that.” 

“A bit dramatic.”

“He’s trying his best.” 

Their conversation gets interrupted there for a few steps, before Jisung speaks up again. 

“Do you have a partner?”

The question comes as a surprise, though Minho thinks it makes somewhat sense for Jisung to ask, since they’ve just talked about Hyunjin and Jeongin. Even so, he doesn’t know why Jisung would ask him that. If it’s just a random question to keep the conversation going, or if there’s more to it. Minho would prefer the first option of the two. He hasn’t been in a relationship in so long, because he knows that having a relationship would also entail letting someone in, having a certain level of intimacy Minho’s not quite sure he’d be able to share with someone else. There’s only so much he could hide from a partner, and one day he would have to share the truth with them. It wouldn’t make sense to have a partner in the first place if he didn’t feel safe enough to be himself with them to begin with, and Minho thinks that somewhere there had to be someone he could simply be with without fearing, but he doesn't know whether or not he is ready to embark on that search journey just yet. 

Moreover, he doesn’t know much about Jisung. He’s barely ever thought of him as a friend, and even less as a potential partner. 

The expression on Jisung’s face tells Minho he realized it must’ve been an unexpected question to receive. “Sorry, that was probably a weird question,” Jisung says. “Forget about it. I’m just a bit awkward with strangers.”

“It’s fine,” Minho assures, glad that Jisung didn’t mean anything more with that. “I don’t,” he then answers. “Do you?” 

“Oh. No, I don’t,” he says. “I think my fate is to third wheel my friends until the end of my days,” he adds. 

“And Hyunjin is the dramatic one?” 

Jisung smiles. “I’m trying my best, too,” he says, repeating the words Minho used earlier. 

Minho can’t help but smile as well. Although their conversations are still quite awkward, there’s something about Jisung that makes Minho feel optimistic about him. Maybe it’s just the way his face brightens up when he smiles, or the way he seems to be really trying to become friends with him. Whatever it is, Minho feels like Jisung could become a person he could trust. And so, he wants to give him a chance. 

“Thank you for walking me here,” Jisung says a little after, when they’ve finally arrived at their destination. 

“You’re welcome,” Minho says. 

“I’ll see you in class?” 

Minho nods. “Take a seat next to the windows, if you get there before me.” 

“I will,” is the last thing Jisung says to him, smiling once more and then walking away to his class.

♡

As days go by, Minho finds himself spending more and more time with Jisung. Like Minho guessed, it starts becoming some sort of routine for him to arrive at one of the classes they share and look for Jisung so they can sit together. Everytime Jisung arrives before him, Minho finds him sitting at one of the seats near the windows. It’s just a little detail, but it makes him smile regardless. 

They don’t get that much closer, their conversations often focused on superficial topics like the assignments they share and how boring the lecture they are sitting through is; but Minho can tell that Jisung is curious about him and wants to get to know him better. Although Minho initially feels a bit tentative about sharing more about himself, he has to admit that Jisung makes it easy for Minho to trust him. The day Jisung asks him about the cats on his lockscreen, Minho doesn’t think twice before answering. 

“They’re my brothers,” he says, smiling softly at the picture on his phone. It’s been a while since he’s seen them last and he’s starting to really miss them. 

“Your brothers?” Jisung repeats, laughing a little. 

“Don’t laugh,” Minho tells him, glaring at him. “I’m being very serious.” 

“Sorry, didn’t mean to offend you,” Jisung says, though as he’s pronouncing those seemingly serious words he has an amused smile on his face. “I didn’t know you were a cat.” 

“I’m many things,” Minho says.

“To be fair, it kinda makes sense. Your personality seems similar to one of a cat,” Jisung agrees, his eyes stuck on the lockscreen of Minho’s phone. 

“I’ve been told that before.” 

Jisung smiles, almost as if he’s happy to have figured out something about him. “What are their names?” 

“Are you sure you wanna know that? Sharing the names of my cats has only brought me immeasurable disappointment,” Minho says, remembering the amount of times his friends had gotten their names wrong or even forgot that he had three cats and not two. 

“I promise I’ll be worthy of receiving your knowledge,” Jisung swears, placing his hand on his chest, right above his heart, and looking at Minho with a dramatic expression. 

Minho huffs, moving his phone towards Jisung so he can see the picture better. “This is Soonie, this one is Doongie and this is Dori,” he explains, placing the tip of his finger on each cat as he tells Jisung their names. 

“Soonie, Doongie, Dori,” Jisung repeats, nodding. 

Minho goes as far as showing him different photos of Soonie and Doongie to explain to him how to tell them apart, since they always seem to look the same to anyone Minho has ever shown them to. Jisung gets Doongie and Dori’s names mixed up the next time they talk about his cats, but Minho can’t bring himself to be annoyed at it, since it was Jisung himself who decided to bring them up. 

“Do they live with you and Felix, then?” he asks that time. 

Minho shakes his head. “No, they’re at my parents’ house. I don’t get to see them a lot.” 

“Mhm,” Jisung says, his eyes softer than they were before. “You must miss them.” 

“I do,” Minho nods. He does miss them, especially because the times he goes back home are very few now. Every time his parents ask him to come home for the holidays, Minho feels a huge amount of guilt hitting him right as he brings up some sort of excuse to avoid spending too much time around them. The real reason why he doesn’t want to do so is a secret only he and Felix know. 

Jisung remains totally unaware of all the thoughts going on inside his mind, but he still looks at him with a soft smile on his face. “I hope you get to see them soon,” he tells him, and Minho hopes the same. 

Then, before Minho can start feeling too bad thinking about how much he misses his cats, Jisung takes his own phone and, after a bit of searching, he places it on Minho’s desk, showing him the photo of a cute ball of fluff. “I have a pet too at home,” Jisung explains. “This little guy.” 

Minho smiles looking at the dog in the photo that Jisung is showing him.  

“His name is Bbama,” he says, before Minho can ask. “He’s got so much energy, I swear everytime I come home I struggle so much to take a photo of him ‘cause he never stays still. But he’s so cute.” 

Jisung shows him a video he took of Bbama, and Minho can’t help but laugh at the chaos that the little guy creates. “He is cute,” he agrees. 

They spend the rest of the time before their class starts watching some more of the videos Jisung took of Bbama. 

The topic of their pets comes back again during those small conversations they share as they’re sitting together waiting for class to start. That becomes a routine too, after a while, and it doesn’t take long for Minho to become used to talking about whatever with Jisung. Once they’re past the initial awkward phase, it becomes easier for them to start conversations, which Minho is thankful for. 

“Wait, actually,” Jisung starts one day, grabbing his phone. “I should still have your number from when we worked together.”

“Ah, right. I forgot about that,” Minho murmurs. 

Jisung opens his contacts, scrolling down while looking for Minho’s number. “Forgot about my number or that we worked together?” he asks. 

Minho smiles. “Could be both, honestly. You’re pretty forgettable,” he jokes. 

Jisung turns towards him with an appalled expression on his face, mouth slightly open and eyes big and surprised. “Hey! I’m not,” he defends himself. “Am I?” he then asks a little after, suddenly looking more serious than he was before. 

Minho snorts, taking Jisung’s phone out of his hand and making a new contact with his number so he doesn’t waste time looking for it. He gives Jisung his phone back and Jisung looks at the contact information before smiling at him. 

“Thank you,” he says. 

“Just avoid calling me at unusual hours,” he tells him. 

“I wasn’t really planning on calling you, to be honest. But if you miss me that much…”

Minho presses his hand against Jisung’s shoulder, pushing him away and shaking his head while Jisung laughs. “Don’t make me regret giving you my number.” 

“Well, technically it was already somewhere in here, so.” 

Minho doesn't reply. “Text me so I can save yours,” he tells him instead. 

“Now who’s asking for whose number?” Jisung teases him, but still doing as Minho asked. 

“I changed my mind. I don’t want it anymore.” 

“Too bad,” Jisung says, shrugging his shoulders. “I already sent you a text. Guess you’ll have to save it now.” 

“I don’t think that’s how it works,” Minho says, but once he looks at the notification of the new message he just received, he finds out that he did still have Jisung’s number saved. When Jisung peeks over at his phone screen, Minho clicks on the option “block contact” and pretends to do it. 

“Wait, don’t!” Jisung stops him, laughing. “Please.”

Minho looks at him with a smug smile on his lips. “Since you asked so nicely,” he says, going back and placing his phone back on his desk. 

Having Jisung’s number turns out to be useful when a few days later he doesn’t come to class. Minho doesn’t think much of it at the beginning, since it wouldn’t be strange for Jisung to arrive later. He simply sits at his usual spot and waits, though Jisung doesn’t seem to arrive even when the class has already started, so Minho sends him a message asking whether or not he’s going to come. He gets his answer only later on, when the class is already done. 

Sorry, I woke up late, Jisung tells him. 

When Minho gets to the library to study a little, he decides to send a couple of photos with his notes to Jisung, since he’s feeling particularly generous today. 

:O Thank you hyung, is what Jisung texts him once he sees them. 

Despite Jisung jokingly suggesting he’d call him (since Minho “ misses him so much”), they don’t talk outside of the usual times before and after their lessons, and the only times they meet outside of class are those where they join their mutual friends when they’re hanging out together. 

In the time that’s passed by now, their group has become more tight, to the point where Minho is used to seeing Jisung’s friends as much as he sees his own friends, though he hasn’t gotten particularly close to any of them. Apart from the time they spend together between classes, they keep hanging out in their free time, but the occasions Minho agrees to come with them are still only a few. He keeps himself busy with the excuse that he still has assignments to work on and that he can still spend time with Felix and Hyunjin whenever he wants, but eventually he caves one day when he’s feeling particularly bored. 

From what Felix told him, they are only supposed to go out and get some dinner together, which is another reason why Minho feels more compelled to go with them, since he really doesn’t feel like cooking tonight. Him and Felix leave together and they find the rest of the group waiting for them near the place they chose to eat at. Minho didn’t know if Jisung would come too, but he’s there, talking and laughing with Chan and Changbin when Minho arrives. He doesn’t notice him until Hyunjin says his and Felix’s names out loud, but when he finally does, he just smiles and waves to him from afar. Hyunjin pushes him and Felix inside the restaurant, followed by the rest of the group, and once they get to their tables it takes them a while to figure out where to sit since everyone has their preferences. Eventually, Minho ends up sitting down next to Jisung, and that’s the first time they talk to each other. 

“I didn’t think you’d come,” Jisung says, smiling at him. 

“Surprise,” Minho sings ironically. 

They don’t get to say a lot more since they get sucked into the main conversation going on at the table, and for the rest of the evening Minho doesn’t do more than listening to the many voices around him and eat his food, contributing to the various – sometimes too animated – debates that Changbin punctually starts. 

He’s having fun (even though eating and talking with his friend group isn’t anything special), almost to the point that he forgets completely about the reason he was initially so tentative and unsure about getting closer to so many more people. He thinks he’d like to trust them, he’d like to believe that they’d never be the types of people to mock him for his secondary gender, but Minho doesn’t know if he’d ever feel comfortable enough to completely lower his defenses. 

That being said, as he turns towards Jisung and exchanges a few jokes with him, he’s hit with the realization that he’s definitely started feeling comfortable around him. He doesn’t quite know him yet, but Minho can’t deny that he sees a friend in him at this point. He’s gotten used to the sound of Jisung’s voice and even to the way his scent varies subtly, from more sweet to bitter. 

Minho really hopes he won’t let him down.

♡

Jisung is looking at him with a strange expression on his face when Minho gets stopped by someone before he can make it to his seat. Minho himself isn’t so used to someone talking to him in class, even less someone asking for his number like the person who stopped him tries to do, so he believes his expression must be even more surprised than Jisung’s. Minho’s eyes only linger on the person in front of him for a few seconds, before kindly turning them down and finally walking towards Jisung. 

Jisung doesn’t seem to have heard their conversation, because the moment Minho makes it to the seat next to his, Jisung tells him, “You don’t have to sit next to me, you know?” 

Minho looks at him for a few seconds, trying to understand what Jisung’s on about. “I thought you wanted me to sit next to you.” 

“Yeah, but I’m sure there are other people that want to sit next to you. And that you might want to sit next to.” 

“Who? I don’t know anyone else here,” Minho asks, perplexed. 

Jisung lifts his chin, pointing somewhere over Minho’s shoulder, and when Minho turns around he finds the person who asked him his number just a couple of minutes before. “You’re pretty popular,” Jisung adds then. 

“Me? Popular? I don’t know about that. Nobody ever asks to sit next to me.”

“Probably ‘cause everyone is scared to talk to you,” Jisung says. “You look kinda intimidating sometimes.” 

Minho doesn’t really know what Jisung really means by calling him popular, since Minho is more like the complete opposite of that. He only has a few friends that he hangs out with and the biggest group friend he’s ever had in uni is the one he currently is in. He’s not the type to go to parties, nor engage in activities where he can meet and talk with many strangers at once, so it just wouldn’t make sense for him to be considered popular. 

Other than that, he didn’t think he looked intimidating. He definitely keeps to himself by choice, but he assumed that would just make him look very introverted, or even shy, if anything. Not..intimidating. Why would anybody consider him intimidating, when he barely ever talks to anybody? 

“Was I intimidating to you?” he asks Jisung. 

His friend laughs, scratching the back of his head and smiling almost embarrassed. “Well, a little?” 

Minho shakes his head slowly, slightly amused. “I didn’t realize,” he says. Then, after a few seconds, “I mean, that I was intimidating in general. You did look a little bit like you were about to shit yourself when you talked to me, now that I think of it.” 

Jisung doesn’t answer, but his face twists in an exasperated expression, a sign leaving his lips. Minho smiles. 

“That’s what people like about you, though,” Jisung says then. “You’ve got this mysterious aura, or whatever. I don’t have that effect on people at all.” 

Minho’s eyebrows furrow. “Who are we talking about? Does one of your friends have a crush on me or what?”

“No,” Jisung says, laughing. “I’ve just heard people talk about you. You know the other day when someone said that you had a good scent? Comments like those.” 

“If that’s true, why haven’t I noticed it?” 

Jisung shakes his head, pushing lightly on his shoulder. “Oh, c’mon hyung, don’t act like you don’t know that you’re attractive.” 

Minho smiles, looking back at Jisung. “Are you envious?” 

Jisung looks even more exasperated now. “When did this become about me?”

Minho laughs a bit. “I don’t know, you said that you don’t have that effect on people at all,” he says, repeating what Jisung told him just a while ago. “Why? Because you’re not mysterious ?”

Instead of answering right away, or making another joke or funny remark, Jisung stays silent for a little bit, like he’s thinking about the way he wants to answer. “Maybe, I guess,” he says then. He takes some more seconds before continuing. “People..tend to question me a lot here. They know I’m an alpha, because I’m not really trying to hide it, although it’s not like I care if other people know about it or not,” he explains, shrugging his shoulders. “But I’ve had people question whether I was a real alpha, because my personality is too soft, or I smell too sweet, or because I’m too short, or just whatever other reason they can think of to explain why I don’t look like what an alpha should look like. I’ve had someone go as far as trying to prove that I’m not an alpha, but an omega instead,” he continues, sighing softly. Minho keeps staring at him. “So that’s why I’m not as liked, I guess.” 

Minho scoffs because of the insanity of what Jisung just told him. It wasn’t the answer he was expecting, although somehow he feels like he shouldn’t be surprised. After all, this is the environment he’s used to.  

“Has that ever happened to you?” Jisung asks him. 

“No,” Minho says, and that’s the most stupid thing of all. Because Minho is the omega that’s posing as an alpha between them, but he’s never been questioned by anyone. “Does that bother you? That they tried to prove that you’re not an alpha? It seems annoying.” 

“It was annoying to go through that, but honestly, I don’t care that much. I just find it weird how everything revolves around your second gender, here. It’s kinda stupid, right? Like, what does it matter anyway?” 

“Yeah. Remove the kinda . It is stupid,” Minho agrees. 

The moment their conversation stops, they both fall quiet. Minho feels a little bit weird to have this type of conversation with Jisung, but he feels glad that his new friend seems to view the general university mindset the way he does. It gives him hope, at least, if not a complete confirmation that he can’t quite bring himself to ask just yet. 

On the other hand, what Jisung told him does make him even more angry and frustrated about the environment they found themselves in, but he doesn’t know if there’s anything that he can do about it, which makes him feel helpless. 

Before he can get caught up in his emotions, thankfully Jisung manages to distract him by starting another lighter conversation. They chat a little bit until class starts, continuing to share small comments to each other during the lecture as they always do. By the end of it, a few minutes before the class ends, the professor reminds them of the group project they had already been told about weeks before in advance. Minho had forgotten about it, but when the professor tells them to choose whoever they want to work with, Minho turns his head towards Jisung and finds him already waiting for him, a smile on his lips. 

“You were waiting for this, weren’t you?” Minho asks him. 

“Well, you know, there’s one advantage of having a friend in your class,” Jisung says. “So, wanna work with me?” 

“If I really have to,” Minho mumbles, then, before Jisung can react to his words, he grabs his phone. “Let me check again what we gotta work on.” 

“Just please, don’t choose the option to do a presentation because I will actually shit myself,” Jisung tells him. Minho would like to tease him a little bit more, but he doesn’t feel like doing a presentation either. 

When he looks back up from his phone and sees the people around them starting to leave the lecture hall, he wonders if someone from the rest of their friend group will be free to meet up. Before he can open his chat with Felix to ask him, Jisung asks him if he wants to hang out for a while until their next classes. 

It isn’t anything new, since he and Jisung have spent time together outside of class a few times at this point, but it only happened when the rest of their friend group was busy somewhere else. But it’s at this moment that Minho realizes how much he’d rather spend his time with Jisung rather than with the rest of their group. He wouldn't mind seeing his friends, but as he and Jisung started becoming less awkward and more comfortable with each other, Minho realized just how easy it is to talk and joke with Jisung, so the idea of spending his time with him alone seems a little bit more appealing right now. Especially because he doesn't have any idea what the rest of their friends would be doing, and he really, really doesn’t want to find himself trapped in the library again. 

“Why not,” he tells him then, looking at him when Jisung smiles. 

They leave the building they’re in a couple of minutes later, wasting some time walking near the campus grounds. The weather is nice today too, so they don’t feel the need to hole themselves up inside to avoid the cold. Being outside makes Minho’s mood lighter too, since he doesn’t have to be constantly bombarded by hundreds of different scents at once. Jisung’s scent is still noticeable, since he’s walking right beside him, today a little sweeter than usual, but Minho would be lying if he said he doesn’t enjoy his scent at least a little bit by now. 

He tells himself it’s a comfort thing, similar to the way he feels about Felix’s and Hyunjin’s scent. Jisung’s is a little stronger than theirs, but although Minho has to admit that he likes it in general, what he really cares about isn’t the scent itself, but more the fact that that’s Jisung’s scent. His new friend, who he is slowly learning to trust. 

Maybe Felix was right. Meeting new people wasn’t a bad idea. He just had to be lucky to find the right ones. 

“What are you thinking about?” Jisung asks him after a while, maybe noticing how lost in his thoughts he is. 

But Minho only shakes his head. “Nothing,” he answers, instead of making up a joke or something of the sort to shift the strangely gentle atmosphere away. 

“The weather’s pretty nice, right?” Jisung asks him again, looking up at the few clouds moving slowly in the sky. 

“Yeah,” Minho agrees, smiling softly to himself. His eyes lift up just like Jisung’s did, looking around himself and taking in everything around him. For a moment, he doesn’t feel the urge to rush, or to talk about anything at all. For a moment, he feels like he can just exist. 

He doesn’t know if it’s actually an intentional decision or not, but they end up staying outside the whole time, only stopping at the campus café once when Jisung starts complaining about being hungry. 

“Didn’t you say you get to eat breakfast with Chan hyung if you wake up earlier?” Minho asks him. 

“Well, I didn’t really wake up earli er today,” he tells him before opening the door of the café. Minho waits for him outside, and when Jisung comes back, he’s already biting down on a chocolate glazed donut. Minho smiles slightly, finding the choice pretty ironic since Jisung’s scent is already so chocolate-y itself. Minho notices that Jisung’s other hand is occupied too, holding a small paper bag. He lifts it up in front of Minho. “Do you want one?” he asks him then, while he’s still chewing. 

Minho looks at him amused. He doesn’t think he needs any more chocolate than he already smells, and it’s definitely not what he’d usually go for, since he tends to dislike anything that’s too sweet, but he has to admit that seeing Jisung eating made him realize that he's also a little hungry. “Did you buy it for me?” Minho asks him. 

Jisung lowers the paper bag. “I mean, if you don’t want it, I’ll be happy to eat it,” he says. 

“I didn’t say I don’t want it,” Minho mutters, taking the bag from Jisung when his friend holds it again towards him, smiling. “Thanks.” 

The moment Minho takes a bite of the donut, he’s hit with a taste he recognizes very well, when he finds out that the donut has some sort of vanilla cream filling. He doesn’t say anything about it, even though he can feel a shiver running down his spine when he turns his head towards Jisung again and sees him taking another donut out of the now empty paper bag and biting down on it. He just finishes his own donut, and keeps walking in silence when they go back towards the place they were at before to find themselves a bench to sit on. 

The thought of the vanilla filling comes back to him later when he’s alone in class, but Minho pushes it away before he can think too much of it. Blame the universe for giving him such a common scent. 

♡

A few days later, Hyunjin comes to their apartment with the excuse of wanting to hang out with him and Felix and the real objective of taking advantage of Minho’s cooking skills. 

Felix and Hyunjin are lazing around on the couch while he cooks, they’ve been there for quite a bit at this point, chatting on things and asking Minho’s opinion about them every once in a while. It’s only when they’re sitting down at the table to finally eat that Felix brings up a topic Minho almost expected him to bring up. 

“So, you haven’t told me anything about Jisung yet,” he says. “I want to know. It seems to me like you’ve gotten closer, right?” 

Hyunjin looks up right as he’s about to take the first bite of his food. “Him and Jisung? I didn’t even know they were friends," he says. “Fuck, this is so good, hyung. I should come bother you more often,” he adds a couple of seconds later, when he finally gets to start eating.  

Minho looks at him. “If you pay for the food I might consider your wishes.”

“Honestly? I might,” Hyunjin says as he keeps eating. “Ordering food costs way too much anyway. And I suck at cooking.” 

“Hey, don’t ignore me!” Felix complaints, lifting up his spoon to catch their attention. 

“What?” Hyunjin asks, turning his head back to him. “Oh, right. Han Jisung. How did you become friends again?” 

“We share a couple classes, so we sit together now,” Minho explains.  

Hyunjin nods. “That makes sense. He’s so shy with me. It would’ve been a miracle if you two became friends randomly.”

Minho smiles at him mischievously. “Maybe he just doesn’t like you. Ever thought of that, Hyunjinnie?” 

Felix laughs, holding Hyunjin’s arm for emotional support as he sulks in silence. “So, was my advice to become friends a good one?” he asks Minho, his eyes brightening up. 

“Yeah, I’d say so,” Minho answers. “He’s nice.”   

Hyunjin’s eyes lift up again. The expression on his face makes alarm bells ring in Minho’s head. “Nice, huh?” his friend repeats, narrowing his eyes as if he’s trying to pull a secret out of him. 

“Hyunjin, don’t make me go grab the paper tissues,” Minho mumbles, playfully threatening him. 

“I’m just saying.”

“Should we talk about you and Jeongin, then?” Minho shoots back, glancing at Felix and seeing him peacefully eating his food while Hyunjin pesters him.   

“I’m just curious, you know? I’ve never seen you in a relationship.” 

Minho shrugs. “I’m not looking for one.”

“Well, I wasn’t trying to get a crush on Jeongin, either,” Hyunjin argues. 

“That’s pretty debatable, don’t you think?” 

“Stop bickering, you two,” Felix suddenly butts in, turning to Hyunjin. “C’mon, eat or else the food will get cold.”

Minho snorts, finally getting to enjoy his own food after all. He doesn’t get to think too much about what Hyunjin suggested with his questions, since Felix starts talking again just a little bit later, this time about something that doesn’t involve Minho, thankfully. The time they spend together goes by quite quickly, between eating and talking some more, and Minho has to admit that he really missed spending time with his two closest friends like this. It’s been a while since he’s gotten the chance to hang out with them like this. A lot has changed since their friend group has gotten bigger, but not all of it is bad. 

When Hyunjin leaves a few hours later, Felix and him get on the couch to watch something together. Minho can tell that Felix wants to ask him more about him and Jisung from the way he keeps humming to himself. It’s a habit he has, humming a song tune to give himself the courage to ask him something that he hopes won’t be too awkward to talk about. 

“Just ask,” Minho tells him then, chuckling. 

“Mhm?” he turns towards him. 

“I can tell you want to ask me something.” 

“Oh,” Felix laughs. “You’re right,” he then adds, glancing back towards the tv and grabbing the remote to stop the episode of the show they chose to watch. When his attention is back again on Minho, he asks, “Will you get mad at me if I bring up Jisung again?” 

Minho smiles. As if he wasn’t expecting that already. “Have I ever gotten mad at you?”

Felix shrugs. “Not really, but you never know. There’s always a first time for everything.” 

“Right,” Minho nods, slightly amused. “No, I won’t get mad at you.”

Even if he was particularly annoyed at the way their friends keep bringing up Jisung, he knows that Felix never has bad intentions, so Minho doesn’t think he could ever really get mad at him for something like this. 

Felix moves on the couch, getting in a more comfortable position as he keeps facing him. “I just really wanted to know how it’s going between you two, since Hyunjin didn’t let me ask you properly earlier,” he explains. “It looks like you really get along. It’s nice. I’m happy for you.”

“Don’t get too sappy,” Minho murmurs, making a face but then smiling nonetheless when Felix rolls his eyes. “Yeah, we have a similar humor, so that helps. It was a bit awkward at the start, but we’re friends now. And you were right, by the way. He’s funny. Sometimes. When he doesn’t try too hard to be.”

Felix laughs. “I’m glad.”

He doesn’t say anything more after that, so Minho throws a confused glance at him and asks, “That all?” 

“Well, I was gonna ask you more, but I don’t want to be too pushy. But uh, there was something that I wanted to tell you,” Felix says. Minho looks down at his hands, noticing right away that he’s started fidgeting. He nods at his friend, waiting for him to continue. 

“I might have..uhm..a crush on Chan hyung?” he says, his tone almost questioning at the end of the sentence and his expression similar to one of a kid who just got himself in trouble. 

Minho’s eyebrows lift up, though he can’t say he’s really all that surprised. “Wow, and Hyunjin wanted to talk about me and Jisung?” 

“Please don’t tell him anything!”

“Of course, I won’t. It’s just kinda funny,” Minho says, shaking his head. He thinks back to the few times he had hung out with Felix and Chan, memories in his head of them sitting together and talking to each other. “It makes sense though. I could almost tell you liked him,” Minho says then. 

“This is why I never tell you anything. It’s useless,” Felix complains. “You always know even when I don’t say anything.”

Minho smiles. “I’m not the type to speculate on my friends' crushes, anyway. Unlike someone else,” he says, coughing theatrically. “But are you gonna do anything about it?”

Felix leans back against the couch, sighing. “I don’t know. I don’t know if he’d even like me.” 

Minho looks at him. “Why wouldn’t he?” 

When Felix looks up at him again, he has some sort of affectionate expression on his face, like Minho said something ten times sweeter than he actually did. “Hyung..”

“Don’t look at me like that,” Minho says, chuckling. “Why wouldn’t he?” he repeats. “You’re nice and kind and extroverted like he is, I’m sure he wouldn’t say no if you asked him out. I wouldn't even be surprised if it was a mutual thing, to be honest.” 

“I’ll just wait a little longer, I think,” Felix says, nibbling on his lip. 

Minho nods. “Can’t blame you for that. But good luck. And thank you for telling me.”

“Of course. I wasn’t going to tell anyone before you,” Felix says, smiling at him. 

“Don’t worry, by the way. I’m not gonna tell anyone. And I don’t think Hyunjin would either.”

Their conversation stops there, even though Minho isn’t sure whether that was really all that Felix wanted to ask him. His friend presses play on the episode on the tv, sitting back against the couch like he did before, but this time placing his head on Minho’s shoulder, too. Minho lets him, relaxing against the couch and starting to feel the first signs of sleepiness clouding his mind. 

They keep watching their show for about an hour before Minho decides he wants to get to bed, tired now after such a long day. He goes through his usual night routine, saying goodnight to Felix before closing himself in his room. Getting up from the couch and moving around has woken him up a little, but he still lays right away on his bed and leaves only his bedside lamp on as he takes his phone to check his notifications before he sleeps. 

There’s one from Jisung too, a simple message about the work project they have to start on soon. Minho doesn't reply to it, opting to do it tomorrow when he’ll probably have more energy, but once he turns his lamp off with the intention to finally sleep, some thoughts inevitably flood his mind. 

A “Nice, huh?” in Hyunjin’s voice. An image of the eyes of his friend looking at him suspiciously. Felix asking him about Jisung. Jisung talking to him in class, laughing right after he teased him about something. Jisung’s smile. Jisung’s scent. Jisung biting down on his vanilla cream filled donut. 

Minho rolls on his other side, pushing those thoughts away. He’s tired, and he just wants to sleep. If Hyunjin hadn’t said anything, maybe he wouldn’t even be here now. But then again, what does it matter? Hyunjin doesn’t know why Minho hasn’t been in a relationship in a while, nor does he know anything about Jisung. And Minho never thought about the option of being in a relationship with him, apart from that very early conversation they had when they had just started talking, and he’s not about to start considering that now. 

It’s too soon, anyway. If that could ever be an option for him, it’s too soon to know. 

He sighs, waiting for his mind to finally quiet down and falling asleep a few minutes later when it does. 

♡

As time goes by, the deadline of the group project Minho and Jisung are supposed to work on together gets closer and closer, forcing them to consider the idea of at least getting started with it.  

“Where do you wanna meet up to work on the project?” Jisung asks him one day, when they’re talking about it.

Minho shrugs, not too sure about that himself. The most obvious answer he can think of would be either in the library, at a café or at a quiet place outside, because those are the places where Minho would usually study with anyone else for a group project; but given that they are already friends and that Minho really would rather not work in a place where he can easily get distracted, he guesses there could be a better option. 

Inviting Jisung to his apartment isn’t really something he was expecting to do, and although he thinks it should be fine, he still would prefer something else for the time being. “What about your apartment?” he asks then. He hopes it won’t stink too much of alpha, but at the end of the day even if he does hate it there, they can always just leave. 

“Sure,” Jisung agrees right away. “Just let me know when you’d like to come.”

Turns out, Jisung’s apartment doesn’t stink that much when Minho finally steps foot in it. Instead, the air is fresh, almost as if all of the windows had just been all opened up to let the air change completely. Jisung gives him a small tour of the living space, showing him where the bathroom is and asking him if he wants anything to eat or drink before they get started on their project. Minho looks around curiously, walking closer to the small table in the living room and taking in his hand a guitar pick left all alone in the middle of the table. When Jisung comes back with a couple glasses of water, he notices it. “Oh, that’s where I left it,” he mumbles to himself, placing the glasses on the table. 

Minho gives it to him, and Jisung slips it in the pocket of his hoodie. “I didn’t know you played the guitar.” 

Jisung nods. “Now you know,” he simply says, smiling. 

“Any other secret talents?” Minho asks him as he sits down, taking his laptop out of his backpack and placing it in front of himself. 

“Uhm, I don’t know, I can sing too..I guess?” 

Minho snorts. “Felix told me that apparently you’re known for being good at doing a lot of things.” 

“Known like that by my two best friends only,” Jisung says, making an unsure face. 

“I did say secre t talents, didn’t I?” 

Jisung nods, sitting down in front of him. “I guess. Do you have any secret talents?”

I’m a pretty good actor, Minho thinks. “It’s not really a secret, but I like cooking,” he murmurs instead. “And I’d say I’m quite decent at it.” 

Jisung’s eyes light up. “That’s a useful skill to have.” 

Minho snorts. “Hyunjin and Felix might say it’s useful to have me as a friend, too.” 

“Can’t argue that.” 

“Don’t expect me to cook anything for you, now. I’m a busy man.” 

Jisung smiles. “I didn’t say that.” 

“That’s good,” Minho says, finally turning on his laptop. 

He expects them to start working, at that point, but their conversation goes further since Jisung asks him, “Do you bake too?” 

Minho nods. “Felix and I bake together, sometimes.”

Jisung gets up from his seat, reaching to the other side of the table and pulling his own laptop closer. “Baking might even be better,” he mumbles.  

“You seem to like sweet things.” 

“I do,” Jisung nods, teeth nibbling on his lip while he types something on his laptop. 

“Even your scent is sweet,” Minho points out, placing his cheek against the palm of his hand and looking up at Jisung. 

The look Jisung shoots back at him seems somewhat confused. “Why are you saying it like it’s a bad thing?”

“It’s not. It’s just funny,” he explains. “What do they say? You are what you eat?”

Jisung laughs, sitting back down in front of him. “I think I liked sweets more when I was younger. Before presenting,” he says, eyes back on his laptop for a moment before they lift back up on Minho’s. “I feel like I could manage baking, though,” he says with a playful expression on his face.  

Minho smiles slightly. “Don’t underestimate it.” 

“Well, you gotta suck at things before you get better at them, right?” Jisung says, shrugging. 

“That’s so wise of you,” Minho mumbles.  

“I’m all talk anyway. I would drop it after 2 hours if I wasn’t immediately good at it,” Jisung admits. 

Minho nods, amused. He looks at Jisung for a few moments. His eyes are once again low on the screen of his laptop. Hair strands fall on them, until Jisung lifts his left hand to brush them back. They fall right where they were before the moment he lets them go again. His hair has grown a lot since they started talking. 

“You might be able to persuade Felix to bake you something.” 

Jisung looks up. “Felix, but not you?”

Minho shrugs. “He’s more into baking than me.” 

Jisung smiles. “I see. What about you, though? What do you like to cook?” 

“Just whatever I want to eat. That’s how I started cooking actually. I kept seeing so many great dishes around, so I wanted to learn to make them myself.” 

“That’s really cool! And you succeeded too,” Jisung says. He looks actually impressed, or at least, happy for him. 

“Well, I don’t always succeed, but I do like it a lot, so.” 

“I’m glad you’re my friend. I would fear having you as my enemy.” 

Minho snorts. “As you should.” 

They smile at each other. Minho wouldn’t mind talking a little more with Jisung, but he is here for a reason. Hence, he asks, “So, where should we start?” 

They start working right away, and get far enough to leave Minho less stressed about the deadline. 

Minho and Jisung start meeting up more outside of class from that point on. Minho finds it quite ironic that he did end up studying with Jisung after all, despite turning down Jisung’s initial offer because he didn’t think he’d ever be able to study with someone else. This is slightly different, he supposes, since they are working on the same thing at the same time, but it turns out that it’s not that hard to work with Jisung, just like it wasn’t the first time they ever did. 

This too is a bit different, because this time they’re not complete strangers, but friends, so the time they spend together isn’t so awkward as it was in the past and not entirely spent just on studying. In fact, Minho might even say that most of the time they spend together with the purpose of working on their project, they don’t actually spend studying but rather lazing around and talking. 

On a Thursday afternoon, they’re sitting on the couch, taking a break before they get back to studying. Or at least, that’s what they tell themselves. Soft sunrays filter through the windows, giving the apartment a cozy feeling. Minho looks around, spotting a photo frame sitting on top of a piece of furniture in front of the couch, right where the tv is. He gets up, lowering his head to look at it and recognizing the faces of the three guys in the photo as those of Jisung, Chan and Changbin. They look a bit younger than they are now, maybe a few years younger. 

He takes the frame in his hand, walking back towards the couch and showing it to Jisung. “What’s this?” he asks. 

Jisung smiles, taking it from him. “Chan hyung likes scattering around photos of him and us. He can get quite sentimental, at times,” he explains, looking down at the photo. “This is from a school talent show. When we were in high school, we had this sort of..rap group. Me, Chan hyung and Changbin hyung,” he says. “Changbin hyung really wanted to participate in the talent show as a group, and he kept pestering me to agree, since I didn’t want to rap in front of so many people. After bothering me for weeks I agreed just ‘cause they didn’t want to do it without me.”

Minho smiles. Now the weird setting of the photo makes sense. It looks a bit like a stage. “How was it?” 

“It was quite fun, actually. A little embarrassing at the start,” he recalls with a soft smile. 

Minho nods, pulling his legs up on the couch and getting more comfortable. “So what about the group? Is it still a thing?”

“Not really,” Jisung says, putting back the frame where it was and mimicking Minho’s sitting position. “It was just something to pass the time, I guess.” 

“I get that,” Minho says, contemplating whether to say more. “I used to dance. For a few years,” he eventually ends up sharing.  

Jisung looks at him. His eyes are as curious as they’ve always been. “Why’d you stop?” 

Minho shrugs. It isn’t a conversation he has had many times. Dancing is something he enjoyed a lot, so talking about it is never easy, even though the reason he stopped isn’t that serious. Remembering the time he used to dance makes him quite nostalgic, so he tends to avoid thinking about it too much. 

“I just started getting more busy with uni, and started working too in my free time. So I decided to take a break,” he explains. 

Jisung hums. “So you plan to get back to it?” 

“Maybe we should make a pact: you start your little rap group again and I get back to dancing.”

Jisung laughs. “I’m kinda in my rock era right now, though.” 

“Doesn’t matter the genre, really. I’m sure you could pull off whatever.” 

Minho thinks he could imagine them three in a rock group. He could imagine them as a rap group too. One thing’s for sure: the more he hears Jisung talk about his friends, the more he realizes just how tight their bond is. It’s sweet, but it also makes Minho wonder. Because they’re that close, but Jisung still prefers spending a big part of his time with him. 

“I don’t know what my hyungs would think of that,” Jisung says, smiling softly. “I do like music a lot, though. I don’t think I could live without it.” 

Minho looks at him, not thinking about anything for a moment as they just sit in silence. He discovered pretty soon that it’s always like this with Jisung; they can talk all they want but their silence is just as comfortable. Minho’s usually the type of person to avoid taking breaks that are too long, always preferring the feeling of being busy, since doing nothing for too long can make him feel uneasy. He doesn’t know if the reason he doesn’t feel uneasy now is because they have already done a lot of work for their project or some other reason. His heartbeat is slow, though, and he’s feeling nothing but content as Jisung sits on the other side of the couch. 

Jisung doesn’t ask if he wants to get back to studying, almost as if he can tell the answer already. They eventually do study a little more, minutes later when they’re bored enough to find the motivation they need. 

♡

A few days later, they meet again in class. Minho finds Jisung sitting at their usual spot near the windows. When he gets to his seat, he places a paper bag in front of him. Jisung lifts his head up, looking at him with his two big brown eyes. 

“To return the favor,” Minho explains. 

Jisung finally takes the paper bag, peeking inside and smiling when he’s finally able to see what’s in it. “You didn’t have to,” he says. 

“I know,” Minho says, watching Jisung take out of the paper bag one of the chocolate glazed donuts he had bought for him that morning. The same ones he chose about two weeks ago or so, very sweet and filled with vanilla cream. 

“Wanna share?” Jisung asks, pushing the bag with the second and last donut towards him. 

“It’s fine, I ate just a while ago,” Minho says. 

Jisung smiles. “All mine, then,” he says. “Thank you, by the way.” 

Minho nods. 

Their class goes by as always, maybe just a bit more boring than usual since Minho would rather do anything else over being here at the moment. When it’s finally over, he’s about to ask Jisung if he wants to hang out together for a bit when his attention gets grabbed by the voice of someone else in the room. 

“You’ll be missing for four days? What are you, going into heat?” someone says. 

“What the fuck dude,” someone else next to them replies, shoving the other person away.  

“I’m just kidding, man. Don’t be so pressed.” 

“Should I start calling you omega? I bet you’d like it, since you’re always whining about this fucking heat shit.” 

Minho stares, and then tears his eyes away, hearing Jisung’s sigh before he can hear his own. 

“Can they shut up?” Jisung mumbles, starting to pack his things. 

Minho doesn’t say anything.

The day Minho presented as an omega, he already knew about the way this specific secondary gender was viewed at his university. Not that it was a behavior exclusive to this one university, but his best friend Felix had warned him about it even before he ever stepped foot on campus. He told him it was bad, explained that it was very common for omegas to be made fun of, straight up bullied even, especially for male omegas, but nothing could’ve prepared the intense feeling of shame Minho felt when he experienced it all on his skin. 

He remembers it all so well. It’s a memory he prefers to leave in the back of his mind most days, though he knows it’ll always be there no matter what. A week after he presented, he went back to classes, sat down and pulled out his stuff from his backpack as he waited for the lesson to start. What he was used to, at that point, were just some quite light jokes that weren’t that hard to ignore, especially because Minho had no idea what being an omega was like at that time. He had no idea what going through a heat felt like, even though he’d read and learned all about it like everyone else had.

It’s almost sarcastic the way it all hit him so hard right after experiencing his first heat, such a low blow from an already mean world.

“No, cause like, imagine being like that,” a random person sitting a few desks away said, while conversing with his friends. His voice was loud and clear to Minho’s ears. “Showing your ass and begging to be bred.”

“Oh, please, alpha, fill me up!” the person next to them whined, loud and dramatic. “Please, I need your knot!” Everyone around them laughed as if it was the best joke they’d ever made. 

“So whiny and pathetic. They’d let you do anything to them. Can’t even think for themselves,” someone else said. “I kinda feel sorry for them. I wouldn’t wanna be like that.” 

“Don’t even get me started on omega men,” someone else jumped in. “How is that even a man?” 

“Right. It’s so weird that they’re a thing to begin with.” 

“They have slick, too,” someone else said with a disgusted expression on their face. 

The conversation went on and on, but Minho stopped listening halfway through. He felt humiliated, to say the least. His heat had been so difficult to go through, struggling between cramps and other types of physical pain, and on top of that the mental exhaustion that not having someone to help him through put him under. It had been scary and it had been hard to deal with, it had taken everything from him and left him incapable of taking care of himself for days. Of being himself for days. 

The fact that all of those struggles had been reduced to those simple jokes and that Minho was being made fun of instead of receiving the little sympathy he really needed, made him feel sick to his stomach. It made him ashamed and horribly self conscious. When he had been in heat he hadn’t even had the time nor the energy to think about what he must’ve looked like, but now, sitting there at a random desk before his lesson, he got pushed to do so. Guided by the distorted thinking those people had, his mind ended up somehow agreeing with them. 

It took him quite a few days for the pain and the hurt to turn into frustration. He already knew, because of everything that Felix had told him as well as what he had observed on his own, that speaking up and fighting against those mistreatments wouldn’t work, so he never tried it, although he found himself wondering multiple times about the people who were in his own situation. He knew his idea wasn’t a first and that there had to be other people hiding just as he was. He didn’t know for sure how many were posing as an alpha, specifically, but still. 

Alphas were loved in his university. They were respected and admired, for whatever reason Minho couldn't really grasp. Minho could feel a concrete change in the way the people around him acted towards him once he started wearing his current cologne, asking him if he had presented as an alpha and congratulating him for it. Like it was a choice, a conquest of some sort. Not only people his age were more likely to take him seriously, listening to him when he talked and avoiding pushing too far in any discussions that got started, but even his professors seemed to be liking him more. 

It all made him quite numb, indifferent towards most people around him, because it all felt so stupid to him. He liked to believe that from that point on he stopped being affected by the jokes about omegas going on on campus, but he always knew deep down that it was just a lie, and that he was still just as affected as he had been on that first day. But there wasn’t much that he could do about it and for his own sake he couldn’t spend every single day thinking about how hurt and frustrated he really was. 

Now in the present, hearing that simple conversation in his class and being brought back to that one time when everything started, makes him feel uneasy. It makes his heartbeat speed up and it stops his breath from flowing through his throat like it should, stuck instead in his lungs. 

“Is everything okay?” Jisung asks him. 

He nods, hoping it’s not so obvious that he’s just thought about so much that he still can’t bring himself to share with the person sitting next to him. 

Fear tugs at him for a moment. Maybe he should’ve just asked Jisung what he thought of omegas before they even started talking. It would’ve made it easier for him, because now they’re friends and Minho can’t imagine not being friends with him anymore. Being let down by him like that, now that he’s become someone who Minho feels so comfortable around. 

Jisung still looks at him with concern in his eyes. Maybe it is obvious that something’s not okay. Maybe Minho’s not that good of an actor as he thought he was. 

“Were you gonna ask me something?” Jisung presses. 

“Oh. Yeah,” Minho nods. “I was gonna ask if you wanted to hang out.” 

“Of course. You know I don’t have anything in my schedule now.” 

Minho’s mood lifts back up after leaving the lecture hall they were in and hanging out with Jisung for a while. Jisung keeps talking to him about some video he watched the day before on Youtube, and that manages to distract Minho enough from everything else that happened earlier. Jisung's voice is soft, but so full of energy at the same time, making it easy for Minho to grow interested in whatever he’s talking about. 

Listening to Jisung is easy, being around him is even easier for Minho. He’s glad he’s with him now, glad that they had time to hang out a little today too. Maybe without him Minho would’ve been still stuck thinking about what he was thinking before, his mood bitter. But he’s not. He just feels..happy. Content. Like he always does when he’s with Jisung, lately. 

When he checks the time on his phone and finds out that his free time is basically gone, he feels almost disappointed. “Hey, I have to get back to class,” he tells Jisung. 

Jisung nods, checking his own phone. “Right. I’ll walk you there.” 

“Don’t you have class too now?” Minho asks. He swears he can remember Jisung saying so the last time they spent some time together on a Tuesday. 

“I don’t, really,” Jisung answers. “I mean, I usually do, it just got canceled today.” 

“Oh. Why didn’t you go back home, then?” 

Jisung shrugs. His eyes turn softer, unless Minho’s just imagining that. “I wanted to hang out with you.”  

Minho can’t explain the wave of comfort that washes over him as Jisung says those simple words, alleviating any bad feeling that was still stuck in the back of his mind. He can’t explain it because those words truly are so simple, but maybe they were all he needed. 

“I see,” Minho says. 

“You asked if I wanted to hang out with you, didn’t you?” Jisung points out as they start walking again. 

Minho nods. “Yeah, I just thought you had another class. That's why I asked. There’s not much that you can do here on campus, anyway.” 

“Well, I like hanging out with you, so. I don’t mind.” 

Once again, Minho doesn’t know why these words have such a big effect on him. At this point, the time he spends with Jisung doing nothing but talking with him is way more than the time they spend together with a real purpose. But it’s still nice to hear, he guesses. Especially now. 

Maybe it’s just the comfortableness that he feels when he’s around Jisung that throws him off. It’s weird to process that he’s finally getting close to someone new, after so much time. 

“I’ll see you..tomorrow, for the project. Don’t forget,” Jisung tells him before they part ways. Minho can’t help but think he looks pretty, as he smiles with the soft morning sun brightening up his cheeks and making his hair shine. 

Minho scoffs, lowering his gaze. “You, don't forget. My memory is better than yours.”

“That’s very debatable, hyung.” 

Minho shoos him away and Jisung giggles while he’s leaving, turning around to wave at him before he finally walks off. Minho watches him for a few seconds, a strange feeling warming him up from the inside. 

♡

As time goes by, Minho gets more and more used to spending some of his afternoons at Jisung’s apartment, among everything else he’s getting used to. Their group project isn’t too far away from being completed, and Minho wonders if he’ll miss hanging out with Jisung like this. Not like they won’t have other chances to meet up after that, either here or anywhere else, but still. It’ll feel a little different. Maybe it’s the way they are putting their efforts together on something that makes it feel special, or maybe just the way they keep procrastinating on doing work just to lay on the couch and do absolutely nothing. 

“Your friends are never here,” Minho says one day, while they’re lazing around on the couch. Jisung is sitting next to him, looking at something on his phone. 

He looks up. “Yeah, they’re out most of the time,” he explains. “They’re going to a party tonight, actually,” he then adds.

“I see. You’re not going?”

Jisung shoots him a perplexed glance. “Do I look like the type of person who’d enjoy going to parties?”

Minho laughs. “No, you don’t,” he says right away. He wouldn’t have guessed any other way. “I don’t like parties either”, he mumbles, getting up with a soft groan from his place just enough to be able to reach his own phone placed on a spot on the other side of the couch. He takes it in his hand, looking at the time on the screen, and finds out it’s almost 5pm. He and Jisung never really made any sort of agreement on how many hours they wanted to spend together to work on their project, but somehow Minho always ends up leaving at around 5pm, so he can go back home and have some time to relax before having to worry about dinner. 

Minho isn’t too sure whether Jisung has noticed the time he leaves at, too, but this time, before Minho can announce that he’s leaving, Jisung asks him, “Do you want to watch something?”, taking the controller of the tv in front of them. 

His eyes are on Minho, and his expression looks so hopeful that Minho can’t even bring himself to contemplate on saying no. “Sure,” he says. “Any ideas?”

“Do you like horror?” Jisung asks him, turning on the tv. “There’s this movie that I’ve been meaning to watch for a while.”  

Minho smiles. He didn’t think they’d get along on so many different things. “I do like horror.” 

“That makes me happy. ‘Cause I really didn’t want to watch something else,” Jisung says, grabbing his phone again and opening what seems to be his note app. 

Minho sits back and waits for him to search for whatever movie he wants to watch, wondering if it’s something he’s already seen. Thankfully, that’s not the case.

“I’ll go get some snacks,” Jisung tells him after leaving it paused at the start, getting up from the couch and walking towards the kitchen area. Minho watches him as he opens cabinet after cabinet, looking inside almost as if he’s forgotten himself what’s in them. 

He comes back a couple of minutes later with a bowl of popcorn, turning off the lights and sitting back closer to Minho than he was before, so they can both share. Minho was starting to feel hungry after spending so many hours here, so he accepts them gladly. 

They don’t talk as much as they do during lectures while the movie plays. Minho can only assume that the lack of comments from Jisung is motivated by his strong interest and curiosity for the movie they’re watching. It’s a good movie for Minho too, interesting enough already at the start, but Minho keeps finding himself distracted anyway. Distracted looking at Jisung, looking at his eyes, wide open and bright from the tv light, looking at his teeth nibbling on the nail of his thumb when things start to get tense. Distracted waiting for Jisung’s reaction to the next jumpscare, a tiny flinch that he seems to try to hide every single time, but that Minho notices easily and smiles at, more endeared than anything. 

“You can hold my hand if you’re scared,” Minho teases him, smiling. 

“Fuck off, hyung,” Jisung tells him, laughing. His smile shines even though there’s not much light in the room now. 

Minho shrugs, taking another handful of popcorn from the bowl. Jisung has barely touched it, too focused on the movie to care. 

He doesn't regret not going home earlier when the credits start rolling. He stretches his limbs as best as he can while he’s still sitting on the couch, placing the empty bowl where it won’t have a chance to fall off. 

“That was good, right?” Jisung asks him, getting up to turn the lights back on. 

Minho has to blink about ten times before he finally gets used to the quick change of brightness. “Yeah,” he agrees. “I’m surprised I hadn’t watched it already.” 

“You know, there’s a sequel, too,” Jisung tells him. “We could watch that too, maybe next time?” 

“Sure,” Minho answers right away. He can’t remember the last time he’s watched a horror movie with someone that wasn’t just completely terrified by it. He can’t really blame Felix for not wanting to watch them with him anymore, but it is one of his favorite genres after all, and he’s glad that Jisung likes them too. 

When Jisung sits back on the couch, Minho asks him what other horror movies he’s seen and what he’s enjoyed the most. They get engrossed in their conversation pretty quickly, exchanging titles and recommendations of movies that Minho wouldn't mind watching together. He usually doesn’t like getting recommendations that much, since he prefers to watch whatever looks interesting to him, but since at least some of the titles Jisung shares with him are movies that Minho enjoyed too, he trusts his judgment enough to feel like trying. 

The door to Jisung’s apartment opens again a few minutes later while they’re still there, sitting on the couch and talking about horror movies. Minho realizes only then how fast his heart has started beating with excitement, so immersed in their simple conversation about their shared interest. Chan and Changbin walk in, noticing them on the couch and saying hi to both of them. 

“You’re still here?” Chan asks him. “How’s that project going?”

“We’re almost done,” Jisung answers for him, yawning. “Why are you two here?”

Changbin is smirking, eyebrows lifted up, when he looks at Jisung. “Sorry, did we have to make ourselves scarce?” 

Jisung’s eyes widen, his cheek blushing. “No, shut up,” he mumbles. “You’re so annoying.”

Changbin runs away with a high pitched giggle. 

Chan walks closer more slowly. “We’re just stopping for a while before going again,” he explains. “Did you tell Minho about the party? I would’ve asked you if you wanted to come too, but since you’re both here I guess you’d probably prefer staying in?” he says, peeking at the tv screen and looking at the movie they were watching. 

Minho pulls his phone out of the pocket of his hoodie, looking at the time. It’s not that late still, but he hasn’t eaten yet and he’s got some leftovers at home that he was planning to eat tonight. “I was gonna leave, actually,” he says. “But is Felix coming with you? I haven’t asked him.” 

Chan nods. “Yes, he’s coming with us,” he answers, smiling back at Minho when he nods. “Well, I’m going to my room now. Bye bye. See you.”

“Bye,” Minho tells him. He stands up when Chan is gone, walking towards the table where he’s left most of his stuff. He puts his things away in his backpack, putting on his jacket and finally looking at Jisung. 

He looks somewhat embarrassed, for whatever reason. “Uhm, sorry for what Changbin hyung said,” he murmurs, laughing to himself. 

“Don’t worry, I get it,” Minho says. “Hyunjin’s the same.” 

“Is he?” 

Minho shrugs. “Not that boldly, but. Pretty much.” 

Jisung walks with him to the door, standing by while Minho puts on his shoes. “I’ll see you,” he tells him, opening the door for him. “I’ll be patient and wait until we meet up again to watch the sequel to that movie.” 

Minho snorts. “You can watch it alone, if you want.” 

“Nope. I want to watch it with you now,” Jisung says, smiling. “Bye, hyung.” 

“Bye, Jisungie.” 

Jisung looks at him with a soft smile before Minho finally leaves.

They meet up again just a few days later, technically with the same goal of working on their project as always, but truly with the goal of simply spending time together. They’ve gotten to a certain point where Minho finds himself almost surprised that he hasn’t gotten bored of being around Jisung so much. He really hasn’t; in fact, the more time they spend together, the more he feels like being around him. 

They actually manage to entirely finish their group project, this time, cheering together when they’re finally done with it and celebrating by dropping right away on the couch with some snacks and drinks and finding that sequel that Minho knows Jisung has been waiting to watch together. Minho looks around himself, taking a couple of the pillows on the couch and moving around until he finds a comfortable position. Jisung pouts and tells him that that’s his pillow , but he gives up trying to take it back from him after just a little bit of fighting. Minho laughs at him, smiling still when Jisung sighs and presses play on the movie. 

Minho is ready to spend his time once again waiting for Jisung’s reactions to the jump scares, but he stays focused on the movie right as it starts and gets absorbed in it enough to almost forget about Jisung’s presence, this time. At least, that’s until Jisung moves a little closer to him and tentatively places his head on his shoulder. 

This time it isn’t Jisung who jumps in surprise because of a jumpscare, but Minho who flinches because he wasn’t expecting Jisung to touch him. His friend lifts his head back up, looking at him. “Is this okay?” 

Minho nods. “Yeah, it’s okay.” 

Jisung smiles before placing his head back on his shoulder. “You did steal my pillow, after all,” he jokes. 

Minho hums, looking back at the screen. Jisung is warm against his side, his scent strong but not overwhelming. It’s nice, if anything, comforting, making Minho almost sleepy after a while. 

It’s almost ironic how everything seems to be the opposite compared to the other day. Jisung is the one who keeps munching on whatever he took with him when he sat down on the couch, definitely more focused on the movie than Minho was a few days before, but more relaxed and at ease as well. He shows Minho the bowl with the popcorn, almost empty at this point, his eyes looking up at him in question. Minho shakes his head, letting him eat whatever’s left in there. 

“This one’s good too,” Jisung whispers to him, referring to the movie. His voice seems so close to Minho’s ear. “I didn’t think it’d be as good as the first one.” 

“That’s how it usually goes,” Minho murmurs. 

“Right? But it’s pretty good. I wonder if they’ll make a third one.” 

They finish watching the rest in silence, and throughout the whole thing Jisung keeps sitting next to him with his head against his shoulder, only stirring every once in a while when something surprising happens on the screen. Minho still thinks it feels nice, even an hour later when he’s tired of staying in the same position, his legs and his back begging for relief. His mind starts subconsciously focusing on Jisung’s scent, following the subtle changing notes and the general bittersweetness of it. A part of him wants to get closer to Jisung, push his face into his neck and breathe it in better. It’s an instinct he has experienced only a few other times before, something he doesn’t know how to explain to himself. 

And he doesn’t explain it, nor does he act on it, he just keeps still, forcing himself to get back to the movie in the background. When they’re done with it, Jisung finally lifts his head back up from his shoulder. He doesn’t say much for a while, almost as if he’s still processing the movie, but he does get back up to carry the empty food packets and containers towards the kitchen. Minho finally gets the chance to stretch, getting up as well and doing it right away. 

The atmosphere between them remains relaxed, when Jisung comes back to him and they start talking about the movie and some more movies they’d like to watch together. Minho doesn’t even notice how much time goes by, once again immersed in their conversation, with no unexpected visitor interrupting it this time. 

“I’m so happy you like horror movies, seriously,” Jisung says after a while, looking so happy about something so simple, but Minho gets it, because that’s how he feels too. 

“I could never talk about this stuff to anyone else before,” he continues. “I mean, Chan hyung tried, but it just wasn’t really his thing, you know?”

Minho nods. “It's nice that he tried, though. Felix tried too, with me. He’s terrified of horror movies.” 

Jisung smiles. “That doesn’t surprise me. They’re so similar sometimes.”

“They are,” Minho agrees, smiling. His expression softens more when Jisung swings his body towards him once again and rests his head on his shoulder as he was doing when they were watching the movie. They stay there in silence for a while, only until Jisung talks again. This time, his voice isn’t as loud and energetic as it was before, but still low and warm as it always is. 

“It’s getting late, hyung,” he tells him. 

Minho hums, doesn’t say anything else. He kinda doesn’t want to leave, yet. He just wants to stay like this, sitting on the couch, Jisung’s head pressing on his shoulder. He can’t remember the last time he’s felt this comfortable around someone. Felix cuddles up to him just the same way, sometimes, but Minho’s starting to feel like it might be a little different from Jisung. Because Minho never felt the urge to scent Felix, but he’s feeling it now. Something inside of him is asking him to get closer to Jisung, let his scent swallow him whole, until he won’t smell like that stupid fake alpha scent he still sprays on himself everyday. 

He closes his eyes, sighing softly. “Can I stay a little longer?” he asks. He doesn’t know why he’s feeling so shy asking something so simple. “Maybe we can order something to eat and watch something else?”

“That sounds good,” Jisung says. 

“I mean, if I’m not imposing.”

Jisung lifts his head up, turning towards him. Minho can barely maintain eye contact, suddenly feeling so much all at once. “No, hyung, you know I like spending time with you,” he says, smiling. His eyes still look so soft. “I don’t want you to leave yet either.” 

Minho smiles back. “Alright. What do you wanna eat?”

Half an hour later or so, they’re eating together at the table. It’s a mostly quiet dinner (apart from the various sounds Jisung makes every once in a while when he enjoys what he’s eating), but Minho has learned a long time ago just how comfortable silence can be with Jisung, anyway. 

They get back to the couch once they’re done with their dinner, choosing something else to watch as if they’ve not stared at the tv enough for today. It’s a good enough excuse to get closer once again, anyway. A few minutes into an episode of a random anime they decided to watch, Minho finds himself being the one placing his head on Jisung’s shoulder, this time. He moves around a little, trying to find a comfortable position, and bites his tongue when Jisung stirs up as well, worried that he’ll pull away. But he doesn’t, instead he just lifts his left arm and gently wraps it around Minho’s shoulders, letting him fall back once again against him. Minho closes his eyes, sighing softly as Jisung’s strong scent gets even more intense. 

“Comfy?” he asks him. 

Minho’s heartbeat is fast and loud in his ears. “Yeah,” he murmurs, shivering when Jisung’s arm holds him tighter. 

He turns his head as much as he can so he can keep watching the tv, trying his best to avoid surrendering to the pull of the sleepiness he’s starting to feel. It feels good, cuddling up to Jisung like that, maybe better than he’s willing to admit. Not that he needs any admitting anyway, since he doesn’t spend a mere second thinking about anything at all. 

He doesn’t worry about anything. Doesn’t worry whether his fake scent is still there, doesn’t worry about anything that isn’t just right here, in the present. He just lets himself be. Lets himself have this, for once. 

His heart slows down to a calm pace once again, warmth engulfing him in the best way possible. He doesn’t even know what’s really going on in the episode on the tv, but he doesn’t feel like asking about it. 

When Changbin comes back home about an hour later, they’re still there, in the same position they’ve been in for the whole two and a half episodes they managed to watch. Minho doesn’t even lift his head up, just mumbles a small “hi” as Changbin walks by towards his room. Jisung doesn’t say much either. 

It’s only another half an hour later that Minho forces himself to check the time on his phone and come to the conclusion that it’s probably time for him to go back home. Jisung’s eyes look down at his phone screen, murmuring a small Soonie Doongie Dori that makes Minho smile. 

“Are you going back home?” Jisung asks him. 

He lifts his head back up, slipping away from Jisung’s hold. “Yeah,” he says. “Probably better now than later.” 

“That’s true,” Jisung agrees, stopping the episode on the tv. 

Minho stands back up, stretching his arms a little and walking slowly towards his things, pulling on his jacket and grabbing his backpack before moving towards the door. When he turns back around to look at Jisung, he doesn’t really know what to say. His oversized hoodie and his disheveled hair only make Minho want to go back to the couch, but he has to go back home now. 

They share a smile before Minho looks away. “See you next time,” he says, not knowing too well when next time’s going to be, turning around so he can open the door and step outside of the apartment. 

“Jisung! Where did you put the-” Changbin’s voice shouts from inside the apartment, stopping midway through. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t realize you were kissing your boyfriend goodbye.” 

Jisung turns towards him. “He’s not my boyfriend,” he says, turning around to face Minho once again, looking just as embarrassed as he was a few days before. “Sorry,” he tells him, blushed cheeks and shy gaze. “I don’t know why he’s like that.” 

“Try teasing him back,” Minho says, moving his eyes towards Changbin, who’s still looking at them from afar. 

“I’m afraid that won’t work,” Jisung says. “Anyway, bye hyung,” he tells him then, smiling. 

“Bye bye,” Minho mumbles. “Bye, Changbin,” he adds, raising his voice. 

“Bye!”

Jisung’s bright smile is the last thing Minho sees before their apartment door closes before him. 

He walks back home with a warm feeling in his chest. He feels tired, almost sleepy and cold since the weather at this time is way colder than it is earlier when he usually leaves, but the tender feeling of happiness inside of him gives him enough energy to keep walking. 

It stays there until later on, when it’s late enough to go to sleep. 

♡

“Hyung,” Hyunjin says while they’re walking back home. “Do you wanna come to the gym with me later?” 

“I thought you wanted to go with Jeongin,” Minho mumbles. 

“Look, I’ve done that once and I don’t think my heart is strong enough for it. Do you know how hot he is when he works out?” he says in a dramatic tone, sighing like he’s wounded.

“Yeah, I know, I know,” Minho knows. “I’ll come with you.” 

“Okay, so, let’s say..I’ll see you there at 4pm?” 

“Deal.” 

Minho spends a few hours at home alone working on a couple of assignments before he leaves once again to meet up with Hyunjin at the gym. Technically, he was planning on going tomorrow, but he does enjoy going with a friend rather than alone. Hyunjin is often his only option since Felix hasn’t ever been too keen on going to the gym, but thankfully Hyunjin is great company when it comes to these types of things.

Minho’s gym schedule has become a little less strict lately, but there was a certain period in the past where he’d work out way more often than he does now. It was one of his coping mechanisms, helpful both for releasing a bit of stress and making his body feel better, and to make him feel a little more safe. After what Jisung has told him about people trying to prove he wasn’t a real alpha because of the way he looks, Minho doesn’t doubt that it could’ve happened to him too if he wasn’t as muscular as he is. He can’t lie and say that it wasn’t one of the reasons why he decided to join the gym, anyway. He does enjoy working out, but it also calms his nerves when it comes to hiding his secondary gender and posing as an alpha. As stupid as that is, because he swears his body would be just the same if he was an actual alpha, but still. 

He finds his friend waiting for him near the door, and a few minutes later they’re already warming up. The gym isn’t too full at this hour, which is one less thing to worry about. At times, when Hyunjin talks to him, it almost seems like they’re the only ones in the whole building despite the few people that walk past them every once in a while. 

It’s so quiet in fact that when he hears some familiar voices far away towards the entrance, he notices them right away and gets distracted from what he’s doing. He turns his head towards the voices, managing to just barely see Jisung, Chan and Changbin walking in. 

Minho furrows his eyebrows. It could technically be a complete coincidence, since it’s not like they live that far away from each other and that’s the only gym in the area, but as he looks over at his friend it becomes obvious that he had something to do with this, or at least, that he was aware that at least one of them would arrive soon. 

“Oh, Changbin hyung is here, finally,” he mumbles almost to himself. 

“You knew he’d be coming?” 

“Yeah, I was waiting for him,” he explains. “I need to ask him a couple of things. He’s actually pretty useful when it comes to these things, you know?” 

Minho doesn’t know. He barely knows anything about Changbin at all. 

“Alright,” Minho sighs. “Well, I’m almost done here. Do you want me to wait for you?”

“It shouldn’t take too long, but it’s alright if you want to get back home.” 

Minho crosses his arms. “We’ll see.” 

He wouldn’t mind chatting for a couple of minutes with Jisung before he leaves, or at least, that’s what he thinks before he sees him. He’s walking next to Chan, talking and laughing with him about something, dressed in sweats and a black tank top that leave his muscular arms and his collarbones bare, golden skin shining under the lights of the gym. 

The sudden effect it has on him is almost laughable, so quick and sudden that Minho barely knows what to do with himself. Because he’s considered Jisung attractive a few times already before, but this is completely different. And maybe that’s the even more laughable thing about it, that there’s nothing really special about the way Jisung looks, he’s not any different from his friend walking right beside him, but Minho can’t tear his eyes away from him until he walks closer to them and finally spots him. 

Minho hopes his ears aren’t as red as he thinks they are. The embarrassment starts growing inside of him, making him laugh at himself for the way he reacted to something so simple. But the chaos of emotions inside of him doesn’t quiet down when he reminds himself that that’s Jisung, his friend Jisung, the one Hyunjin joked about Minho having a crush on, but that Minho didn’t think he truly felt any sort of attraction for. 

Well, fuck, he thinks to himself. 

Changbin, who was walking in front of his two other friends, notices Hyunjin right away. He walks by Minho and says hi to him before getting to whatever he’s meeting Hyunjin here for. That leaves Minho to the side, standing there by himself unsure of what to do. He thinks he should just ditch Hyunjin and go home so he can finally shower and chill for the rest of the day, but his thoughts get once again interrupted when his low gaze notices a pair of shoes getting closer to him, a light chocolate scent flowing in the air until it meets his nostrils. 

“Hi,” Jisung simply says to him. 

Minho looks at him, ignoring his arms to focus on his eyes instead. Not that it makes anything better. “Hi. I didn’t think I’d see you today.”

“Yeah, Changbin hyung dragged me here,” Jisung explains, eyes shifting for a moment in the direction of his friend. Minho turns around too, staring for a few moments at Hyunjin and Changbin talking together. 

“If it was me, I would’ve probably stayed at home,” Jisung adds, smiling when Minho turns back to face him again. 

Minho doesn’t know whether to believe him or not. It’s not like he looks that muscular, but he definitely doesn’t look like he has never stepped foot in a gym before, either. 

Chan, who had walked past them and towards Hyunjin, comes back to say hi to him too. “How are you doing?” he asks. 

“I’m good, thanks,” Minho nods. He turns once again to shoot a glance at Hyunjin, who is still very much engrossed in whatever conversation he’s having with Changbin. “I think I’m gonna head out,” he says to both of them. “You can tell Hyunjin if he’s confused.” 

“Will do. Bye!” Chan tells him, walking away once again on his own. 

Minho looks back to Jisung. “I’ll be going, then,” he says. 

Jisung smiles. “Right. See you tomorrow.” 

A sigh escapes from Minho’s lips once he walks past Jisung, awkwardness slowly melting away. He wonders if Jisung could tell something was off with him; he hopes he couldn’t. That’s something he’ll worry about later, if he really has to worry about it. For now, all he wants to do is go back home and shower. 

Felix is at their apartment when he gets back. His best friend manages to keep him distracted from his own thoughts for most of the rest of the day. They watch a few more episodes of the show they recently started watching together, and when Minho finally gets to bed, that’s when he finds himself thinking once again about Jisung at the gym.  

Sitting on the edge of his bed, he closes his eyes and sighs, rubbing the palms of his hands against his cheeks and his eyelids. He really doesn’t want to think too hard about the way he reacted today, but still, he can’t stop a little smile from forming on his lips. 

“This is so stupid..” he mutters to himself. 

“What’s stupid?” 

Minho jumps, heart racing almost as if he has just been caught doing something he shouldn’t be doing. His wide eyes stare at Felix, his friend’s head peeking from the side of the door. “Fuck, you scared me,” he says, placing his hand on his heart. 

“Sorry,” Felix says, walking a little forward until Minho can see his whole body. “Just wanted to tell you goodnight. Is everything alright, though?” 

“Yeah,” Minho says, nodding. “Yeah, I’m good. Almost had a heart attack but I’m good.”

“Hyung, you watch entire horror movies without batting an eye and I scared you that much?”

“I wasn’t expecting that!” Minho defends himself. He sighs, shaking his head slowly. “Goodnight, Yongbokkie.”  

Felix hesitates. 

“What?” Minho asks him. 

“Nothing. I’m just..observing.” 

“Don’t observe too hard,” Minho says, standing up and walking towards him. “Your eyes might fall out,” he adds, placing his hand on Felix’s shoulder and pushing him lightly away from the door. “C’mon. I want to sleep,” he says, starting to close his door. 

Felix sighs. “Goodnight.” 

Minho smiles at him before the door gets fully closed. He walks back to his bed, this time getting right away under the sheets and pushing away whatever he was thinking about before Felix scared him. He falls asleep quite easily after that, and although he can’t say for sure, he thinks he sees Jisung in his dreams that night. 

♡

Felix asks him if he wants to come get some dinner together with the rest of the group again, a couple of days later. The moment Minho told him that Jisung and him were done with their group project, Felix suggested that they should start joining them some more. Minho avoids telling him that the reason he hasn’t been hanging out with the rest of the group isn’t really because he was too busy with his group project, accepting his offer anyway since he thinks he wouldn’t mind going out for once. 

It’s there that Minho gets to see a version of Jisung he hasn’t quite seen before. It seems like all the shyness he was initially feeling isn’t quite there anymore, since Jisung looks way more comfortable now in the group, talking loudly and coming up with jokes that make the whole group laugh in seconds. He’s energetic and witty, dragging all of the eyes on him and even leading the conversation every once in a while. 

Minho guesses this is what Chan meant when he’d called Jisung funny . Not that Minho hasn’t had a taste of his humor already, but it’s still different seeing him like this. When Jisung is alone with him, he can be quite energetic, but it’s nothing compared to this. So loud and confident, like making people laugh is one of his favorite things in the world. He still gets shy every once in a while, when Chan and Changbin tease him about something, but Minho feels happy watching him be his true self even when surrounded by so many people. 

They don’t get too close this time, sitting far away from each other and still ending up far apart when they leave the restaurant to go to an arcade, but Minho finds himself looking over at him more and more times during the night. 

Their gazes link only later on, when everything’s more quiet. Jisung is sitting a couple meters away from him, next to Chan and Changbin, less energetic and more calm now. When Minho turns his head towards him, he finds Jisung’s eyes already on him. They linger just for a few seconds, before he looks down, fidgeting with the case of his phone and turning back once again towards his friends, joining whatever conversation they are having. Minho watches him get frustrated at Changbin for some reason, while his two friends laugh together. Minho smiles, watching him some more from afar.

♡

It’s a week later when he’s once again at Jisung’s apartment that the realization hits him. 

Even though their project is now concluded, Jisung asks him if he wants to try studying together, and although Minho already knows how that’s going to end, he accepts anyway. He hasn’t been having the greatest day ever. Between so many different classes and lectures and hearing once again some random person gossipping about some omega guy in their class, his mood isn’t the best when Jisung finds him on campus and asks him if he wants to come to his apartment. 

But Minho accepts, and he doesn’t regret it, because the moment he sits down with Jisung, in front of some notebooks and their laptops, is also the moment they start talking and joking with each other like they always do, and also the moment Minho completely forgets about anything that’s gone wrong during his day. 

They don’t get anything done, just as Minho expected, and at some point their conversation moves back to Jisung’s old rap group and what it’d be like to turn it into a rock group now. They start talking about playing instruments and Minho mentions that he took piano lessons when he was younger but he never tried playing the guitar. Jisung says he thinks that learning to play the guitar is easier than learning to play the piano, and as their conversation progresses it ends up somehow with Jisung getting up from his chair and going to his room to fetch his guitar. 

Minho gets up as well, slowly walking towards the sound of Jisung’s voice, there where he’s mumbling something to himself. The door of his room is slightly open, but Minho pushes on it until it opens more and steps inside. 

Jisung turns around, noticing him right away. “Hyung, I asked you to wait there,” he complains, leaving the guitar on his bed, the case that it’s stored inside already open. His tone is embarrassed when he stands up and tries tidying up the space around him as quickly as possible, as if Minho hasn’t already seen his unmade bed and all of the clothes scattered around. Minho doesn’t really find the space all that messy, to be fair, but Jisung still comes up to him trying to push him away and outside. He’s laughing as he does so, though, his cheeks slightly red from the embarrassment, whining some more when Minho slips from him and finds his way inside anyway, but not trying to push him away again. 

“It’s not that messy,” Minho tells him. “My room looks the same.” 

Jisung sighs, sitting on his bed and finally taking his guitar out of its case. “Come here, then,” he tells him, patting the empty space on the other side of the bed. 

Minho walks over, smiling victoriously at him and sitting where Jisung asked him to. Jisung takes his guitar in his lap, matching his mischievous smile when he says: “Since you wanted to come in here so badly, you have to sing with me.” 

“I didn’t know you were gonna sing,” Minho says. 

“I wasn’t. But now I want to,” he mumbles. “And I want you to sing with me.” 

Minho crosses his arms, his expression twisting in a more bothered one. “I’m not gonna sing. You’ll laugh at me.” 

“I won’t! Why would I laugh at you?” Jisung asks, although he’s already laughing. He looks so cheerful, with his bright smile and his pleading eyes. “C’mon. Hyunjin told me you’re good at karaoke.” 

“Karaoke’s different,” he mumbles. 

“It’s not,” Jisung presses, not waiting any longer until he starts playing some motive on his guitar. “Do you know this one?” he asks. 

“I don’t,” Minho lies. 

Jisung smiles at him knowingly, continuing to play the song he chose until the time for the first verse comes and he starts singing too. He doesn’t push Minho to sing too, he just sings by himself, his voice initially quite soft, but gaining more confidence as he goes. And Minho has heard his voice a hundred times before, at this point, but this is something else. If Jisung looked happy before, Minho thinks he looks even happier now, or maybe that’s just his own perception. He still has a bit of a smile on his lips, everytime they’re not moving, shaped around some word or another, and his eyes are low on the strings of his guitar, his fingers moving in a sequence of positions until the cycle starts again. 

For a moment, all that Minho does is look at him. Completely silent, like he’s lost his own voice, terrified even at the thought of stepping in and singing with him. But Jisung looks up after a while, the shadow of a smirk on his lips that doesn’t do much to encourage him, rather just makes his heart pound in a weird way. 

“C’mon, hyung!” 

It’s his full smile, the one that is less mischievous but more a reflection of pure happiness, that convinces Minho to cave in. He still feels quite embarrassed when he starts singing too, reaching to the back of his mind to find the lyrics that he isn’t quite sure he still knows that well, but his own lips end up curling up in a smile, unintentional and so hard to push away that he fails singing a couple lines every once in a while because he ends up laughing instead. 

And that’s when the realization hits him. Right after a couple songs, when Jisung keeps playing his guitar and they keep singing louder than before, like they don’t care at all if there’s some angry neighbor tired of them. Jisung chooses an older song, a song that Minho still remembers from his childhood, bringing back to him a weird feeling of nostalgia and comfort and happiness that somehow makes everything even more intense, in a way he’s barely ever felt before. 

And Jisung looks so beautiful, and Minho realizes that he might actually feel something for him. 

He’s already feeling so happy on his own, singing and laughing and making fun of Jisung when he forgets the lyrics, pulling out his phone and placing it on his leg to read them; he’s feeling great, and that should be enough, but it’s still in that moment that everything crashes down on him. The way Jisung makes him feel, so comfortable and so safe and so happy, even when he’s having a hard day. Minho barely remembers that he was having a bad day earlier, at all. 

And the best part of it all is that the realization doesn’t even scare him. It’s a lot to process, and he doesn’t think he really has the time and space to come to terms with it at that moment, too busy singing out loud and laughing with Jisung, but all he feels is happiness coursing through his veins, no worry pushing him down. He doesn’t know if anybody has made him feel like this before, if he’s felt like this even once since he presented. 

Minho keeps laughing, and Jisung laughs with him. They keep singing a little more, until they get tired enough of it. Jisung leaves his guitar standing against the edge of his bed, turning back to him and smiling. “That wasn’t so bad, now, was it?” 

Minho huffs, letting his back fall against Jisung’s bed, lying there and staring at the ceiling. “Don’t act so smug.” 

“I’m just saying,” Jisung mumbles, groaning softly when he moves on the bed and lies down next to Minho. “Did you have fun?” he still asks, like it isn’t obvious. 

“I did,” Minho admits, incapable of denying it like this. Jisung’s room smells faintly of his scent, white walls covered by a bunch of posters and drawings from groups and anime Minho barely recognizes. It feels nice to simply stay here lying on his bed, breathing slowly until his body relaxes once again and his eyes close. It stays relaxed even when he feels Jisung’s hand brushing against his, just slightly. Minho feels his warmth and wants nothing more than to roll around and wrap himself around him. Bury his face in his neck, breathe deeply and let everything go. 

He has to admit this is pretty nice too, though. They lay there for a while, in complete silence. Minho can almost hear Jisung’s breathing, if he pays enough attention to it. Eventually, he’s the first one to get up, sitting still on the edge of the bed and looking around himself. Somehow, the space around himself reminds him so much of Jisung. 

“You know, I just realized that,” Jisung says, sitting up as well. “You’ve been here so much but I’ve never been to your apartment.” 

Minho hums. He had a reason to avoid inviting Jisung to his apartment, and he still does, but he doesn’t feel as worried about it now as he used to. “You can come with me after our Thursday class, if you want.”

Jisung smiles. “Expect me to walk into your room exactly how you did today, then.” 

“You’ll be disappointed when you’ll find my bedroom door locked,” Minho says. 

“That’s not fair,” Jisung says. 

Minho shrugs, standing up from Jisung’s bed. “Should we go back out and actually try to study a little bit, now?” 

Jisung looks up at him, with that same sweet smile he usually has on his lips, and Minho barely knows what to do with himself. “I don’t really want to,” he admits. “But I guess studying with you is better than studying alone, so..” 

Minho offers him his hand and Jisung grabs tightly on it, letting Minho pull him up on his feet. They’re so close for a moment, smiling to each other until Minho turns around and walks outside the room. 

♡

When Thursday of the following week comes, Minho invites Jisung to his apartment like they’d already talked about. Minho tries to act nonchalantly about it, letting Jisung walk in and look around himself as if the thought of letting Jisung inside his apartment didn’t make him feel at least partially nervous. 

They haven’t eaten anything for lunch yet, and Minho would be lying if he said that he hasn’t already planned to cook something quick and easy for the both of them. After all, he’s spent enough afternoons at Jisung’s eating whatever type of snack his friend offered to him while they were watching horror movies or whatnot on the tv. 

“Are you hungry?” Minho asks him, while Jisung’s still looking around. 

“I am,” he answers. “Should we order something?”

“We can do that,” Minho says, opening one of the cabinets in the kitchen area and finding a pot. “Or I can cook something.” 

“Oh. Really?” Jisung says, turning around to face him. “Don’t let me stop you, then.” 

He walks slowly towards him, watching him silently as he takes some things out and he places them on the counter. 

“You like garlic, right?” Minho asks him. 

Jisung hums. “What are you making?” 

“Pasta aglio e olio,” Minho replies. 

“I’ve never heard of that in my entire life,” Jisung says, laughing a little. 

“It’s very simple to make. One of the first things I’ve learned,” Minho says. “You could easily learn it too.” 

“Should I help you?” 

“Not today,” he says, turning around and pointing towards the table. “Just, go there and sit.” 

Jisung pouts, but does as he’s told. Minho can feel his eyes on him when he starts with what he has to do, he can see him sitting at the table with the corner of his eye. It’s not much later that Jisung gets up again, starting to walk around. He doesn’t say much, just stops and looks at whatever he seems to be interested in. When Minho shoots a glance at him, he finds him looking at one of the paintings they have hung up on the wall. 

“Hyunjin made that,” Minho explains. When Jisung turns to face him, Minho points to another painting. “That one, too.” 

“They’re really good,” Jisung murmurs. 

“Yeah, but not as much as mine,” Minho shrugs, walking over towards the refrigerator, covered in sticky notes and magnets, and showing one of the various sticky notes he drew on to Jisung. 

Jisung laughs, taking the piece of paper in his hand. “I was wondering, actually, what this thing’s supposed to be.” 

“ This thing?” Minho repeats. “Be nice to Juremi or I will kick you out of here.”

Jisung rolls his eyes. “Sorry, didn’t know that.. Juremi? was that special. Is it a face, then?”

“Yeah.” 

Jisung smiles. “Cute.” 

He keeps holding the small sticky note in his hand, looking at it with that small smile as if it was actually better than any of the paintings Hyunjin made for him and Felix. Minho doesn’t say anything, just gets back to his pasta and checks on it to see if it’s cooked yet. 

Fortunately, spaghetti doesn't take that long to cook, so just about ten minutes after putting them in the pot they’re ready. Minho can feel his stomach rumbling, can almost feel Jisung’s too, since his friend is standing right next to him, jumping slightly and moving around impatiently. 

They sit at the table just a couple of minutes later. Minho stares at Jisung, waiting for him to start eating. It’s not like it was a difficult dish to make, or a dish that could possibly be messed up at all, but he still smiles when Jisung starts eating and shows him a thumbs up. “It’s really good,” he mumbles while he still has his mouth full.

His cheeks get even rounder as he chews, something Minho had already noticed other times before, but that he now finds cuter than ever. He finishes his pasta quickly, drinking a cup of water and sighing contentedly like he’s already satisfied with that, not knowing that Minho has prepared something else for him. When Minho gets up and starts taking the empty dishes to move them to the sink, Jisung takes them in his hands and does it for him. 

Minho huffs, walking towards the fridge. “So,” he starts, opening the door. “I’ve heard you like cheesecakes?” 

Jisung turns towards him, eyes big and curious as Minho takes out of the fridge the cake he had finished just this morning before leaving for his class. 

“You’re kidding,” Jisung says. 

Minho laughs, closing the door of the fridge and placing the cake on the table. “I’m not.”

“Did you buy this?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Oh,” Jisung says, laughs some more. 

“That was a joke. No, I didn’t, I made it,” he says. 

“Hyung!” 

“I mean, I never made one, so. Here’s hoping it’s edible,” he says, lifting the cover and finding himself a knife to cut it. 

“Are you trying to poison me?” Jisung jokes. 

“Ah, I’ve been exposed,” Minho mumbles, finally cutting a slice of cake and placing it on another smaller plate. He slides it across towards Jisung, who just stares at it for a moment like he’s completely speechless. 

“Fuck, hyung, thank you so much,” he says, sitting down and excitedly taking a small bite from his slice. His face makes Minho almost laugh, so expressive when his eyebrows lift up and he looks at him like he’s just created the best thing in the world. 

It warms Minho’s heart. He doesn’t think he really needed that big of a reaction to feel satisfied, but he can tell that Jisung’s reaction is totally sincere, and that makes it even better. He looks so happy as he’s eating his slice of cake, sounds so when he thanks Minho for it about ten times in a row. 

Minho laughs, shushing him and hiding just how those words really make him feel. 

“You can take another slice at home, if you want,” Minho says. “Apart from Felix and Hyunjin, there’s nobody else who can eat it here, so.” 

“Are you sure?”

Minho nods. “I mean, I kinda made it for you,” he admits. 

Jisung’s expression turns softer for a moment, making Minho’s heart skip a beat when he looks at him with a small smile. “Then I won’t refuse,” he says. “Thank you.”

“Stop thanking me,” Minho mumbles, taking the rest of the cake back to the fridge. When he comes back, Jisung has already taken the rest of the dishes to the sink and found the bottle of dish soap. 

“What are you doing?” Minho asks him, as if it’s not obvious. 

“The dishes.”

“You don’t have to.”

“C’mon, let me. You cooked pasta and made a cake for me, and you expect me to not do the dishes?” Jisung asks. “Just come here and dry them, if you want. We'll be quicker like this, anyway, right?” 

“I guess,” Minho says. 

It really doesn't take them long to make the dishes, and Minho finds himself enjoying it too, somehow. Jisung is singing something soft and light-hearted, dramatically changing the rhythm of the song to fit his actions, looking at Minho every once in a while and smiling at him cheerfully. Minho gets lost in his smile more times than he can count, coming back to reality only to dry whatever dish Jisung passes to him. 

When they’re done with the dishes, Minho asks him if he wants to watch something like they usually do, but Jisung walks towards the other side of the apartment, to the small corridor that leads to the bathroom and the two bedrooms. Minho follows him, knowing already where Jisung’s trying to go. He stands right next to him, crossing his arms and looking at him with an amused look on his face when Jisung tries to guess which of the closed doors leads to his bedroom. 

Jisung turns to his right, placing his hand on the handle. 

“That’s Felix’s room,” Minho tells him. 

Jisung lets the handle go, laughing. “Right, I knew that.” 

He turns around, this time placing his hand on the handle of Minho’s room and turning it down. When it opens, he looks up at him. “I thought you said it’d be closed?”

Minho shrugs, pushing the door open and letting him in. 

He likes to think that his bedroom doesn’t have anything special in it, but he still feels a certain way seeing Jisung walk inside. It’s not a place Minho lets anybody in, usually, not even Hyunjin has ever been inside. Not really because Minho didn’t let him, more because Hyunjin never asked about it, nor did anyone else who has ever been to their apartment. 

Jisung looks around for a moment, then sits on the chair next to the desk. “Cozy,” he says, turning towards the desk and taking in his hand a piece of paper. “More Juremi?” he asks, pointing at the small drawing on the corner. 

Minho smiles, coming closer to him and taking a random pen to draw his character again on another piece of paper, this time giving it Jisung’s cheeks and the clothes Jisung’s currently wearing. “Jisungie inspired Juremi,” he says, handing the piece of paper to Jisung. 

Jisung smiles. “Cute,” he says, putting it back in a spot on the desk where it’s perfectly visible. “You should keep it here for when you miss me.” 

Minho snorts. “Sure.”

Jisung smiles again, this time at him. He takes another piece of paper and the pen Minho has just dropped, starting to draw Juremi himself. “How’s this?” he asks, showing it to Minho. 

“Eh,” Minho mumbles, making a face. “You tried.”

Jisung shakes his head with a smile, standing up from the chair and sitting on the edge of his bed instead. Minho sits next to him, taking his phone out of the pocket of his sweater and checking the time. He doesn’t really know how long Jisung plans to stay here, but it doesn’t take them long to find something to talk about. It’s always easy for Minho to lose recognition of time when they’re together, talking like that about whatever. They end up lying on his bed like they did at Jisung’s apartment, close enough that their shoulders are touching, their heads turned to face each other. Minho watches Jisung as he lifts his hands up in the air as he talks, trying to explain something that he saw in another random video, getting frustrated when Minho keeps making fun of him for stumbling on his words, when really all he feels is himself falling further for him. 

There’s nothing he likes more than talking and laughing with Jisung. Minho closes his eyes, barely hearing the front door opening and closing again while Jisung keeps talking. A few moments later though, he does hear some steps coming closer in the corridor outside of his room. Minho opens his eyes, turning his head towards the door and noticing Felix peeking his head inside. 

“I thought I heard a voice that wasn’t hyung’s,” he says. “Hi!” 

“Hi,” Jisung replies. 

Minho smiles, patting the empty space on his left. “Do you wanna come join us?” 

Felix shakes his head, smirking. “I’m good,” he says, leaving them alone again. 

Jisung stays there another couple of hours. When he leaves, he takes another slice of cheesecake with him like Minho had offered, mumbling something about how he’s afraid Changbin will steal it from him and eat it. 

Minho walks back into his apartment after Jisung has left, finding Felix sitting on their couch and looking at him with a curious expression on his face. 

“That’s probably like, the first person I’ve ever seen in your room, apart from me,” Felix says. 

“Yep, that makes sense,” Minho agrees. 

Felix keeps looking at him. “So..does he know?” 

“No, he doesn’t,” Minho replies. 

“Do you think he would take it badly?”

Minho hesitates before answering. “I..don’t wanna think about it.”

Felix nods. “Okay,” he says, his voice calm. “I’m not going to pressure you, but I’m here if you wanna talk about it.” 

Minho smiles. Nods once. “I know.” 

♡

His thoughts catch up to him eventually. That night, when Minho’s alone in his room, still smelling a little bit of that deep chocolate scent on his bed, he can’t stop thinking about Jisung. He thinks about his face and his voice, thinks about the way he makes him laugh, the way he makes everyone laugh. The way he can be so considerate and sweet, but still enjoys teasing him, getting all shy or frustrated and whiny when he gets teased back. He thinks about sitting with him in class and walking around campus together with nothing to do, thinks about the afternoons and evenings spent in his apartment pretending to study only to then get on his couch and watch some horror movie together. He thinks about the way he looks at him sometimes, with that soft smile on his lips and those eyes that look unsure for a moment. 

Minho sighs. His right hand moves up his left arm, stopping where he feels the edges of his scent patch. 

Sometimes, when Jisung looks at him, Minho starts believing that he might feel the same. But what if he knew that he’s an omega? Would he see him differently? Maybe it’s stupid of him to still question this, when Jisung has never been anything like the people Minho’s used to seeing on campus. But it’s a big deal for him, of course it is. It’s a bigger deal because it’s Jisung. 

It frustrates him to think that they’ve gotten so close but that there’s still something that Jisung doesn’t know about him, and that that one simple thing could potentially destroy everything they have built with time. Minho wants to hope for the best, but he can’t deny that he’s scared. After everything he’s been through, it’s hard to hope for the best. 

He never expected that he would find someone like Jisung. He never expected he would find someone who he could actually get a crush on, despite everything. But he’s here now. 

♡

Minho finds himself back at Jisung’s apartment just a few days later, unable to refuse Jisung’s invite when asked to watch together another new horror movie that Jisung seems to be quite enthusiastic about. They get to his apartment later than usual, after another quicker dinner out with the rest of the group. Their other friends have decided to stay out a bit longer, going to some party Minho has already forgotten about. After all, he can’t deny that he prefers this over whatever party he could’ve ever gone to. 

He and Jisung are sitting once again on his couch, Jisung’s head pressing on his shoulder. So close. 

“Come here, personal pillow,” Jisung had told him, grabbing his arm to pull him on the couch next to him and cuddling up to him right away. It’s another thing that’s become a routine. Every time they watch a movie together, now, they sit close to each other, one of their heads on the other’s shoulder, sharing their warmth. 

Minho thinks he could get used to it. He could get used to coming here every few days, spending the evening with Jisung, too. His energy is way lower now than it is earlier in the day, but he doesn’t mind it. The only thing he really does mind is that he’ll have to stand up and walk back home, eventually. But he doesn’t think about that now. He just enjoys the movie playing on the tv, enjoys Jisung’s company.

Jisung’s hand is on his leg, so warm against the fabric of his pants, completely still apart from his thumb that’s lightly caressing his leg, a slow motion that makes Minho’s eyelids tremble and his stomach tighten. It’s a type of touch that feels almost intimate, but Minho doesn’t stop and question it for a single second; he just moves his leg closer to Jisung’s, slowly tilting his body a little more almost unconsciously. 

When Jisung lifts his head from his shoulder, Minho thinks he’s just going to move to get comfortable again, but instead he lifts his left arm to wrap it around Minho’s shoulders like he did tens of times before at this point, pulling him in until Minho’s the one who’s resting against him. 

Minho sighs softly, closing his eyes and tightening his hands into fists as he tries his best to quiet down the impulse to just push his face against Jisung’s neck and breathe him in. He’s never felt it quite this intensely before, not even the first time they cuddled like this. 

Jisung’s embrace is so warm that it becomes the only thing Minho cares about even when the movie’s still playing in the background. Turned like this on his side, it would be impossible for him to watch it anyway, but Jisung doesn’t mention it. He just holds him, the thumb of his right hand still brushing lightly against his leg. It makes him wonder if Jisung even cares about him watching the movie too, or if he just wanted to have him close. 

Minho stops himself from giving into his urges until he doesn’t, trying to be as subtle as possible as he angles his face just a little higher and breathes in Jisung’s scent. He feels his body relaxing in an instant, all of his limbs loosening up and his mind clearing until he starts feeling almost sleepy. Maybe, if he was a little more awake, or if this wasn’t Jisung, he’d feel more worried about the way he’s behaving right now, but he doesn’t think about it once. He just finds himself relaxing more and more until the noises from the movie become just a distant muffled sound, until he slowly loses conscience. 

He doesn’t know for sure when he falls asleep, but he awakens from the feeling of Jisung gently shaking him. Minho blinks his eyes open and Jisung’s right there, so close to him, looking at him with a pair of soft eyes and a small endeared smile on his lips. Minho can’t help but feel his own ears turning warm and red, blushing as he blinks some more and tries to wake himself up again. 

“Sorry,” Minho says, pressing his hands against his face. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep.” 

“It’s okay,” Jisung tells him, and Minho has to resist the urge to just snuggle up to him and fall asleep again. 

He turns around, looking at the tv. The movie is stopped on what seem to be the ending credits. Minho doesn’t remember half of it. “What hour is it?” 

“Almost ten,” Jisung says. 

Minho nods. “I guess I should just go back home,” he says, yawning and squeezing his eyes while he tries to find the motivation to get up. It’s hard when all he’d really want is to stay here. 

Jisung hums, remains silent for a few seconds. “I’ll walk you home,” he then says. 

“I’m not that tired,” Minho says. “I promise I’ll survive a short walk just fine.” 

Jisung smiles, almost looking like he was expecting something like that from him. “I don’t doubt that,” he says. “But I want to walk you home anyway. Can I?” 

All the fight left in Minho loosens up, replaced by a soft feeling in his chest. “Okay.” 

Their walk towards Minho’s apartment is quiet, but Minho’s very aware of Jisung’s presence next to him. Minho still thinks he really didn’t need to come with him, but he can’t bring himself to complain when Jisung left the comfort of his home without a second thought to walk him back. It’s sweet, like everything else about him. 

When they make it to his building, Minho thinks Jisung will just leave, but instead he takes a couple steps closer to him and engulfs him in a hug. 

“Goodnight,” he tells him, his voice low but strong against Minho’s ear. Minho shivers, hugging him back, enjoying for a little bit longer Jisung’s warmth and his scent. It feels nice, especially now that the temperature has gotten lower, and the cold of the night bites against the bare skin of his face. It feels so nice that for a moment he thinks he’d prefer staying here instead of getting to his warm apartment. 

“Goodnight,” he repeats. 

When they step apart, Jisung looks at him again, hesitating before going. It almost seems like he has something more to say, but his mouth stays shut and his gaze eventually shifts down to the pavewalk they’re on. He gives him one last smile before finally turning away, starting to walk. Minho almost finds him hoping that he’ll turn back. 

♡

Nothing changes much in the week that comes after that, apart from the fact that Minho starts feeling himself getting sick. He doesn’t know for sure what it is, but he initially brushes it off since it doesn’t seem to be anything serious. It’s just a light dizziness that accompanies him through the day, but not severe enough to keep him from attending class. Since the weather has gotten colder lately, he assumes he might’ve just caught something at uni or somewhere else. He’s seen other people around him starting to sneeze, so it seems likely he eventually would’ve caught something too. 

He does check his heat tracking app after a couple days, just to be sure it really isn’t that, but just as he thought, it turns out that his next heat is supposed to hit about a month from now, so he ends up believing it can’t be that since it’s very unlikely for a heat to come that much earlier. His heats usually come on time too, and he’s never had these symptoms before. Usually, he barely feels his body heating up a bit before it hits him. 

He tells his friends about his symptoms too, just to make them know, as well as to ask them if they’re sick too. Turns out, it seems to be only him, which pushes him to try to keep to himself as much as possible just to not get his friends sick too. Jisung still asks him if he wants to spend time together and it takes everything in Minho to say no to him and settle for what time he can get with him at uni. 

“How long has it been like this?” he asks him one day. 

“I don’t know,” Minho shrugs. “A few days. But it’s not that bad. I just feel a little tired, I guess. And dizzy.”

Minho has the impulse to shy away when Jisung tries to place his hand against his forehead, but he lets him do so anyway. “Mhm,” he hums, his hand warm against Minho’s skin. “Maybe go to the doctor if it doesn’t get better.” 

“I’m fine,” Minho huffs, pushing Jisung’s hand away and smiling at him, feigning indifference. In reality, the fact that Jisung is worrying about him makes his tired mind even more pleased than he’d usually feel. 

Once his body temperature starts to get higher, Minho ends up guessing that what he must have is a simple fever. Felix keeps bugging him, telling him to stay at home one day when Minho wakes up more dizzy than usual, but he’s got one particular class at uni that he really doesn’t want to skip. He promises Felix that he’ll be back right after and that seems to be enough to convince his friend. 

He calls him again when Minho still hasn’t gotten dressed, right after he’s taken his suppressants. Minho sighs, finding himself some clothes to wear and putting them on before walking out of his room and towards the living room where Felix is. His friend gives him a couple meds he’s gotten for him and tells him to take them if he needs to. Minho nods, thanking him and getting back to his room to finish getting ready.

He sits for a couple of seconds on the edge of his bed, closing his eyes and sighing before trying to get back to what he was doing before. He gets interrupted a second time, though, this time not from Felix but from his phone ringing on his bedside table. He reaches for it, taking it in his hand and relaxing when he sees that the person calling him is Jisung. 

“Hi?” he asks, unsure. 

“Hi, hyung,” Jisung says. “How are you, today?”

Jisung usually doesn’t call him, but he’s been calling almost every single day since Minho started feeling sick. Minho tells him the truth, admitting that he’s still planning to come to class. Jisung reacts to it the same way Felix did, but it makes Minho smile. Hearing his voice is nice, even knowing they’re going to see each other very soon. 

“Where are you now?” Jisung asks him, after a while of talking. 

“Still at home, gotta finish getting ready.” 

“Uhm, I’m not trying to rush you, but our class starts in about twenty minutes.” 

Minho freezes, letting out a frustrated swear. “Fuck, I didn’t realize. I’ll see you at uni.”

“Bye bye.” 

Minho looks around himself, trying to remember what he was doing. When he sees the opened box near one of his drawers, he gets up, walking towards it and grabbing the cologne bottle in his hand to spray it on his neck. “Okay,” he says to himself, sighing and rushing out of his room. 

A part of him makes him think that maybe he should’ve just stayed at home at this point, but it’s too late to turn back now that he’s already walking towards campus. He makes it there on time, walking into the lecture hall where he’s got his class in. Luckily enough, his favorite spot next to the windows is still free, so he slowly starts walking towards it. His steps are already slow and relaxed, but they almost halt to a complete stop when he starts hearing a bunch of voices around him. 

“Do you smell that too?” someone asks. 

“I do,” someone replies. “Where is it coming from?”

Minho turns his head towards the two people who just spoke, finding himself noticing more and more people repeating the same questions over and over again. Their expressions are confused, surprised, some even look disgusted. Minho has no clue what they’re talking about. He tries smelling the air too, but he doesn’t find anything weird, until– 

Fuck.

“It smells like someone’s going into heat or something.” 

It’s unmistakable, but it takes him quite a while to recognize it, because Minho isn’t used to smelling his own scent . Usually, it’s never there, completely blocked and covered by his fake alpha scent that he sprays every morning on himself. It’s a thick, strong cologne that he uses, one that doesn’t fade away even after hours, strong enough to cover any trace of his actual scent that he might still have on his skin. 

Please, tell me I’m wrong.

He doesn’t wait any longer, hoping that none of the people in the hall are going to ever understand where the scent is actually coming from. He quickly walks out of the room, avoiding as best as he can all of the people that are present there and rushing towards the closest bathroom. 

His heart is beating fast in his chest when he makes it there, breath short even though he barely ran. His dizziness isn’t making it any better. It doesn't look like anyone else is in the bathroom right now, which gives Minho just a quick moment to take a deep breath and take his jacket off, lifting his right hand and pressing it against the thin material of his shirt on his left arm, right where he usually places his scent patch every single day. He never forgets about it, because he always does it. 

But today, it isn’t there. 

“Fuck,” he repeats, grabbing his backpack and opening it in search of the packet of scent patches that he brings with him just in case. He finds it quickly enough, but right as he’s about to get into one of the stalls to put it on, the door opens behind him. 

The only thing that stops him from rushing into one of the stalls is the sound of a voice he’s way too used to hearing. “Hyung?” 

It’s quick, just like the way everything crumbles down in front of Minho’s eyes. He turns around and Jisung’s there, his eyes wide open as he stares, completely still and looking so shocked, like it didn’t take him more than half a second to smell him and understand what’s going on. 

And everything inside of Minho aches, his head pounding and his legs shaking and his heart trembling because he’s absolutely terrified. He doesn’t know what to do, doesn’t know what to say. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. 

Jisung keeps staring at him, for so long that Minho’s afraid the moment he’ll move again he’ll just spit something hurtful in his face, tell him how disgusting he is, or turn away completely disappointed by what he just saw. It’s not rational, none of his thoughts are rational right now, but he doesn’t know how they ever could be, in a moment like this. Jisung’s soft scent almost makes him cry when Minho finally smells it, because it just reminds him of all the times Jisung has made him feel safe before, and now Minho is expecting the worst from him, guided to do so by his tired and scared mind. 

But Jisung doesn’t do any of the things Minho prepared himself for. The moment he finally moves, he walks closer to him, taking his own backpack off and shrugging his jacket off too in a hurry. Minho watches him, completely speechless, his heart still beating so fast in his chest, when Jisung hands him his jacket, asks him to put it on and helps him in doing so. 

The look in his eyes isn’t as soft and calm as it always is, but his words are just as caring as they always are when he tells him, “I’ll walk you home.” 

Minho barely processes what’s happening at all, almost unable to understand when Jisung grabs his hand and pulls him outside of the bathroom, walking with him towards the exit of the building they’re in. They don’t meet that many people in the corridors, but every time someone stares for too long Minho feels a shiver run through his body. Jisung squeezes his hand, almost as if he can tell what’s going on in his mind; he doesn’t let his hand go for even a second, walking him right back towards his apartment. 

He doesn’t stop when they get to his building, coming inside with him, accompanying him until they make it to his apartment. It’s only then, when the door closes behind them, that Minho finally has a moment to breathe. It doesn’t come easy, when his body is screaming at him in so many different ways and Jisung’s scent is so strong right on the jacket that he only takes off in that moment to avoid getting even hotter, nervously placing it on the back of one of the chairs. Thankfully, his heat doesn’t seem to have hit quite yet, so at least his mind is somewhat clear and not clouded by thoughts he’s afraid to have while he’s so close to Jisung. He looks up, stumbling back against the table and looking at him. He’s still there, looking back at him, seemingly more unsure than he was earlier when he took charge and got him out of uni and back to the comfort of his apartment. 

Minho still feels too nervous to ask him anything at all, he feels like he doesn't have the time and the patience to do it when a first cramp hits him. Minho’s face scrunches up in pain, his hand pressing on his stomach. It seems to be enough to alert Jisung, shaking him out of his temporary stillness and making him walk closer to him once again. His hand lifts on Minho’s arm, his touch soothing when he brushes against it. 

“I can explain..” Minho starts, forcing himself to look at Jisung. 

Jisung shakes his head, his hand slipping down his arm until he finds Minho’s hand once again. “You don’t need to explain anything,” he tells him. His expression twists as if he wasn’t even expecting Minho to say those words, like Minho shouldn’t even have to worry about that right now. “Are you already..?”

“No,” Minho breathes out. “It’s probably gonna start soon, though.”

Jisung nods. His hand is still holding onto Minho’s. “Let’s just get you to your room.” 

Minho follows him without needing to say anything else, follows him as Jisung guides him to his own room. The thought of Jisung being there with him while he’s about to go into heat makes his stomach tighten, it makes him wonder to what extent Jisung’s willing to help him. It feels nice though, the way he’s not hesitating more than he needs to, not leaving him alone and instead helping him even though Minho doesn’t need his help. He’s gone through this on his own tons of times before, so he knows he could do it even without him; but now that he knows he doesn’t need to worry as much as he did before, Jisung’s presence calms him down. 

Minho sits down on his bed, watching Jisung sit on the edge of it and look up at him. They’re close enough that they can still comfortably keep holding hands, though it seems clear to Minho that Jisung doesn’t want to cross any line without asking first. He’s still there, though, still caressing his hand with his thumb and still helping him relax with what seem to be calming pheromones that Minho supposes are intentional. 

“Do you need anything?” Jisung asks. 

Minho can already start feeling the instincts that he knows will be stronger than ever the moment his heat will finally begin, but he pushes them away and tries to clear his mind enough to remember there is one thing he has to do. “I should tell Felix that I’m going into heat,” he says, his voice turning more quiet towards the end of the sentence, like he’s afraid to really say it out loud. It still doesn’t completely click that Jisung knows. 

“I can do that,” Jisung offers, his hand slipping from Minho’s to grab his phone. Minho ignores the wave of warmth that crashes against his heart. He’s never experienced something quite like this. Felix has helped him in the past, but having someone here, in his room, looking out for him as he’s right about to get into heat, is something else. 

“Just, don’t tell anyone else,” Minho says. 

Jisung looks up at him. “I won’t,” he reassures, showing him a small smile, before looking back down at his phone. Once he’s done typing out a message, he asks Minho if there’s anything else he needs. 

Minho shakes his head, retracting his hand from Jisung’s when another cramp hits him. He looks down, biting on his lip as he feels himself getting closer and closer to his heat. A part of his nervousness comes back to him, wondering just what will happen from this moment. He doesn’t know what Jisung’s intentions are, nor does he know what he himself wants. Does he want Jisung to help him? Would that be too much? 

It’s Jisung who interrupts his thoughts, while simultaneously answering his question when he looks at him and says, “If you want me to help you, I’d like that too.” 

Minho doesn’t know what he should do. If it would be better for him to just stay alone, better for the sake of their friendship, better because this is all so new and anxiety inducing to him. 

But Jisung has been so kind to him since he first saw him in that bathroom at uni today, doing nothing but trying to comfort and reassure him, and Minho doesn’t know how he could ever be indifferent to it. It feels good, he already feels way better than any other time he’s ever gone into heat before. 

A sigh escapes from his lips. It’s hard for him to look Jisung in the eyes, so he just looks at his own hands in his lap instead. “I’ve never..spent a heat with someone,” he admits. 

“It’s okay,” Jisung reassures him. “We don’t have to, of course.”

Minho stays silent, a thousand thoughts battling each other in his mind. He’s barely able to process anything that’s happening, tired too from his dizziness and his cramps, and a decision like this seems like something he should really consider carefully. 

It seems like that, but maybe it doesn’t have to be that hard. 

Because Minho doesn’t know what he should do, but the moment Jisung’s about to stand up, he realizes that he does know what he wants , at least. So, he reaches forwards, grabbing onto Jisung’s hoodie and stopping him before he leaves. Jisung turns around to face him, sitting back down. 

Minho’s grip on his hoodie loosens up a little. “But..”

Silence. Minho knows Jisung is waiting for him to speak again. “But..?” he asks when Minho keeps silent, a thousand thoughts clouding his mind. 

Minho forces himself to look up, knowing he needs to if he wants to be fair to Jisung. When he does, it’s almost impossible for him to feel as anxious as he thought he would feel, because Jisung’s eyes and his expression look so soft, as if he wants nothing but to pull him into a hug and tell him a thousand times in a row that everything’s okay. 

“I’d like to..try,” he breathes out. “If you want it, too.”

“I do,” Jisung says, like he has no doubts. “But are you sure?” 

Minho nods. “I am. I’m just nervous,” he admits. 

Jisung’s expression softens even more, somehow. “It’s okay. I can leave if you change your mind,” he tells him. 

Minho doesn’t want him to leave. He just wants him closer, if anything. His thought gets amplified when another strong cramp hits him. He doesn’t think there’s much time left before his heat starts. 

Jisung looks at him, for a moment seeming like he’s about to crawl closer to him like Minho wants him to, but then he stops. “Do you need to nest?” he asks first. 

Minho looks around himself, feeling the impulse to nest alive somewhere in a corner of his mind. He wants to push the impulse down, thinking it’d be fine even without a nest, embarrassed at the thought of what he must look like when making one. 

He shrugs. “It’s okay. It’s not...necessary.” 

“Maybe it’d help make you feel more comfortable. If you’re still feeling nervous.”

It takes a few moments for Minho to nod, ignoring his insecurities and starting to build a nest like he usually does. Jisung stands up, leaving him all the space he needs on his bed to organize pillows and clothes how he feels it’s best. Minho can’t shake the feeling of having eyes on him as he moves around. He just hopes he doesn’t look totally ridiculous as he keeps moving things around, still not quite satisfied with what he’s made. 

Jisung steps closer after Minho keeps struggling for a while. “You can use this too, if you want,” he tells him, handing him the hoodie he was wearing until now. Minho throws a glance at him, noticing that he’s now wearing only a t-shirt and grabbing his hoodie while he feels his ears warming up. He puts Jisung’s hoodie on his pillow, wishing that he’d have more of his clothes to use, but still feeling better than he was feeling before when his nest is finally done. 

Jisung’s looking at him with a small smile on his lips when Minho turns around. He doesn’t say anything for the moment, hesitating just a little before crawling into his nest and lying down next to him, getting comfortable with his back against some pillows. Minho throws a glance at him, trying to ignore just how strange it feels to be in this situation. He knows Jisung wants to stay here with him, but Minho still can’t wrap his head around the thought of Jisung wanting him like this. But Minho wants him too, it feels more like he needs him right now, as another cramp courses through him. 

So he just moves closer to him, feeling Jisung’s arms wrapping around him right away when he’s close enough for it. They pull him in, holding him loosely but still tight enough to make him sigh relieved. In some sort of way, it doesn’t feel any different from the way they usually cuddle when they watch a movie, but this time Minho doesn’t need to worry about anything before pushing his face against Jisung’s neck and breathing him in. 

His scent is strong, making his eyelids twitch until his eyes close. It feels incredibly good, even though his dizziness and his cramps are still there, probably stronger than they’ve ever been. There’s a hand on the back of his neck, gently keeping him there, another hand on his leg, moving up and down against it in a slow soothing motion. Minho melts against him.

“You made a nice nest,” Jisung finally murmurs into his ear. 

Minho thinks Jisung must know what he’s doing, because his omega instincts go crazy just hearing that one simple sentence. He shivers, but doesn’t say anything. He just keeps breathing him in, swallowing down a whine when one of Jisung’s hands move to his hair, brushing it behind his ear.

Jisung’s warmth and scent help his body relax a little, but not long after Minho’s cramps start getting more intense and the first signs of the usual neediness he feels during his heats starts pressing him in his mind. He takes a deep breath, trying to push his impulses down and focus on Jisung’s caresses. 

He bites his lip when he feels the first drop of slick slipping out of him, his face warming up. He wonders if Jisung can smell it on him, wonders what he thinks of his scent. He hasn’t said anything about it, he almost doesn’t even look affected by it, but Minho guesses he must be hiding it. A part of him wishes Jisung would say something, another part of him is terrified of it. He doesn’t want to look too whiny, doesn’t want to lose himself like he always ends up doing during his heats. It shouldn’t be too hard to keep it down if Jisung helps him out, or at least, that’s what he’s hoping. 

He keeps taking deep breaths, until he starts becoming restless when his heat finally hits full force. He closes his hands into fists, tightening his jaw and shifting his body when he feels more slick wetting his underwear, making him feel more and more uncomfortable every minute that goes by. 

“I think it’s starting,” he murmurs, biting his lip to stop a pained whimper before it escapes from his throat. “Fuck, it hurts.”

Jisung pulls him away from his embrace enough to look at him, one of his hands moving to his hip. “Can I touch you?” 

“Yeah,” Minho says, nodding, his hands landing on the waistband of his sweatpants as he tries to pull them off. Jisung helps him with it, pulling his underwear down with them as well. Minho sighs, feeling a little bit of relief and trying not to overthink when he feels Jisung’s hands on his naked thighs. His touch is still gentle, but Minho can feel some impatience bleeding through as he guides his legs to lift up and bend until his hole is exposed. 

“Fuck, you’re so wet already,” he murmurs. 

Minho shivers, gasping when he feels a finger brushing just slightly against his rim. 

“Okay?”

Minho nods, thankful that Jisung isn’t hesitating any longer. His brain is screaming at him, telling him to get up from there, roll around, present himself. Beg for a knot, whine because of the pain. Beg his alpha to help him, take him, breed him. He doesn’t even know how he’s keeping it down. He thinks it’s making him more nauseous than he’d normally be, but he’d be way too embarrassed to act like that around someone else. 

He swallows down another whimper when Jisung’s finger slips in, giving him a bit of relief right before it becomes too little, not enough anymore. Another finger slips in just as easily, though, making him gasp again, closing his eyes when at least a part of the pain gets replaced by pleasure. It feels good, even though it still doesn’t feel like it’s enough, so sensitive now to the drag of Jisung’s fingers against his walls, leaving him breathless and bringing tears to his eyes. 

When he blinks them open again, Jisung is right there, looking down at him with those eyes that Minho knows so well and shifting closer to him to wipe away one of his tears. 

“Don’t worry,” Jisung tells him, still looking at him. “I’ll take care of you.” 

Minho tries to stare back, but his eyes shift away with shyness, feeling something soft and vulnerable warming up his heart. He keeps his mouth shut, swallowing down all of the whimpers that try to crawl out of his throat as Jisung’s fingers keep moving in and out of him, pushing deeper and deeper. 

“You’re so beautiful,” Jisung tells him, then, caressing his face with his hand. “Such a beautiful omega. Taking my fingers so well.” 

Oh.

Jisung’s words wash over him like a hot waterfall. They get stuck in his mind, somehow making the pleasure he feels a thousand times stronger. Jisung’s fingers are still moving fast in and out of him, pushing him closer and closer to orgasm while Jisung keeps looking at him like he’s the prettiest thing he’s ever seen. Minho doesn’t know what to do with himself, struggling to keep his composure when he feels so vulnerable. Their eyes meet again, but Minho struggles to hold Jisung’s gaze. 

“So good for me. Yeah?” 

This time, Minho can’t swallow his whimper in time. He nods quickly, his lips trembling when Jisung’s eyes soften. Jisung’s left hand leaves his face, moving down his body until he finds Minho’s hand, gripping it tightly. 

“It must’ve been so hard, spending all your heats alone.”  

“I–” he chokes out, not even knowing what to say, but so overwhelmed. 

“It’s okay,” Jisung’s voice soothes him. “You’re safe with me, I promise. It’s just me.” 

Just him. Minho knows that he trusts Jisung, after all. He doesn’t think there’s anyone else he’d trust this much, anyone else that he’d let touch him like this, see him like this. Anyone he would even believe would be capable of making him feel so good. 

“Let go, baby,” he tells him, squeezing his hand. “Can you do that for me?”

Minho doesn’t think it’s that much of a conscious choice. He breaks down just like that, incapable of staying indifferent to all of the things that Jisung is telling him. His words make him feel so good, so safe and validated after struggling for so long. 

“A-alpha,” he calls out loud, in a way that he’s not sure he’s ever done before, not scared to look Jisung in the eyes anymore. “Please..”

“I’m here,” Jisung reassures him, smiling softly down at him. “I got you.”

“Please,” he repeats, even though he knows he doesn’t have to. 

He cries out when he comes, gripping Jisung’s hand in his, feeling a mix of pleasure and intense relief coursing through his veins. There are tears in his eyes, tears that he doesn’t know whether they’re caused by all of the sensations his heat is giving him or Jisung’s words. He feels good, for a few seconds he thinks he’s feeling as good as he’s ever felt, but then all of the neediness and the impulses that he’s tried to keep down up until now hit him all at once, screaming at him because he needs more. 

He sits up, scrambling to take the shirt he’s wearing out of the way and turning around, swallowing down the last few drops of shame he feels still somewhere inside of his mind as he gets on his hands and knees, letting his front fall to the mattress and presenting himself. He looks back at Jisung, his eyes still watery when he calls for him. “Alpha.” The word rolls out of his mouth so easily. 

Jisung’s eyes shift from his face to his body, reaching out with one hand to touch him as he bites his lip. Minho needs him so bad. “Fuck,” Jisung breathes out. “You’re so perfect.”

The words soothe him a bit, but not enough to calm down his need. He’s about to tell Jisung to hurry up when he finally starts stripping, removing his clothes quickly, moved by what seems to be impatience. Minho stares at what he can see of him, only getting more and more restless as each piece of clothing comes off his body, his heart pounding in his chest. A part of him is almost anxious of what it’ll feel like, but he lets his instincts guide him instead. 

Jisung’s breath is warm against his neck when he finally moves closer to him, caging him with his arms against the mattress. Minho tilts his head as much as he’s able to in this position, whining softly when Jisung pushes his face against his scent gland, shivering when he feels his sharp teeth brushing just slightly against his skin. 

“Your scent is making me go insane, you know that?” he murmurs against his ear. “I don’t even know how I managed to hold back until now.” 

Minho whimpers, tightening his hands into fists. “Alpha, please..”

Jisung pushes himself back up, his hips shifting forwards until Minho can feel the tip of his cock pressing against his rim. “You’re sure about this, right?” he still asks. 

Minho can’t bring himself to feel frustrated because of it. He’s tired of waiting, and he wants nothing but relief for the discomfort he feels, but he thinks the way Jisung is doing everything he can to make sure he feels good will be one of the things that will stick the most in his mind once his heat will be gone. 

“I’m sure. Just, please, I– 

Jisung slips into him easily, punching a moan out of him. Both of his hands tighten around Minho’s hips, and he doesn’t hesitate this time, leaving Minho breathless when he starts fucking him hard and fast, just like Minho needs him to. Minho shuts his eyes, not trying to stop his moans and whimpers from leaving his mouth anymore, trying to grab onto whatever he can as his body moves forwards, pushing his ass back at the same time against Jisung’s hips. 

It feels good, so good that he doesn’t even notice when he starts drooling, heat warming him up from the inside, shocks of pleasure coursing through him. Jisung comes closer again, his chest pressed against his back and his hands moving from his hips to his belly, trailing up to his chest, touching every part of him he can touch. “Fuck, you feel so good,” he grunts in his ear. “So tight and wet for me.” 

Minho whines, clenching around him, gasping when he feels Jisung’s tongue against his scent gland. He wants to be good, wants to be good for his alpha. 

“My beautiful omega, so perfect for me,” Jisung tells him without missing a beat, thrusting deeper inside of him. The praise makes Minho dizzy, almost delirious because of how good he feels. Jisung’s omega. He’s Jisung’s omega. 

“Ah, fuck, please–” Minho blabbers, interrupted by a chocked out moan when Jisung’s thrusts find that one spot inside of him. He tries to speak again, but his voice cracks, leaving him incapable of doing anything but moaning and gasping. “I need more, I–”

Jisung’s hands slide back to his hips, holding him still, nails digging into his skin. He keeps his thrusts quick and deep, brushing right against his prostate, choking the air out of Minho’s throat every single time. Minho can hear his grunts and choked moans, loud against his ear every time Jisung isn't busy licking and biting his neck. The thought of making his alpha feel good makes him keen, it pushes him closer to coming. 

“Gonna fill you up,” Jisung slurs. “You want that?” 

“Please,” Minho mewls. “Fuck, please, knot me. I need your knot.”

Minho can feel it, recognize it right away even though he’s never felt anything like it, Jisung’s knot slowly forming and catching on his rim everytime he pulls back. Minho can’t even begin to describe the way his body seems to know what it needs, relaxing even further. 

“Alpha, please..”

“I got you, baby,” he grunts. “My pretty omega. Gonna fill you up with my pups.”

“Need it,” Minho blabbers. “Need your knot.” 

“Yeah?” Jisung breathes out. “Think you can come for me, first?”

Minho squeezes his eyes, nodding. It doesn’t take long for his orgasm to hit, not when it all feels so good. It makes him cry out once again, almost not knowing what to do with himself when just a few seconds later Jisung finally comes too, pushing into him one last time until he can’t pull out anymore, his knot keeping them stuck together. His body relaxes, finally giving him a little bit of peace after struggling to calm down for so long. He’s feeling so fucked out, high on the feeling of relief that a knot gives him, so out of it that he barely even wants to move, almost expecting his body to go back to hurting if he does. 

But it doesn’t. Jisung pulls him up, manhandles him until they’re both lying down on their sides. Jisung’s arms hold him from behind, one of his hands pressed against Minho’s tummy. When it lifts to crawl higher and search for Minho’s hand until he can hold it in his, Minho lets out a relieved sigh. 

“You’ve been so good,” Jisung tells him, placing a gentle kiss on his nape and making Minho shiver. “Did so well for me.”

Minho doesn’t think he’s ever felt so good in his life. His heart is warm in his chest, his scars soothed by Jisung’s warm words. After so much hurting and hiding, being able to just let his instincts talk for him and being accepted so easily makes him feel almost ecstatic. 

He squeezes Jisung’s hand, smiling softly when Jisung squeezes back and begins rubbing his thumb against his skin. 

♡

It doesn’t take long for his body to start hurting again. Jisung notices it right away when he starts whimpering again, holding him tight as he just slides back into him in a second. “I got you.”

Minho gasps, head falling back against his pillow, his body pliant as he lets Jisung take him from the back as they’re lying on their sides. Somehow, it almost feels better than the first time, eyes rolling back when Jisung lifts his left leg to push in deeper, mouth latching once again on the skin of his neck. 

“Bite me,” he mumbles. The words roll out of his mouth so easily, so instinctively. “Alpha, bite me.”

He can feel Jisung’s sharp teeth brushing against his scent gland, making him tremble because of how sensitive it is now, but even minutes later, he still doesn’t bite him. Minho’s heat drunk mind doesn’t understand why his alpha wouldn't want to bite him, making him only feel more frustrated, but he forgets about it when Jisung knots him again. His whimpers die down once again, leaving him quiet, settled by the feeling of a knot inside of him. 

For the first few hours, it keeps going on like that. Minho becomes restless again mere minutes after being knotted, but Jisung’s right there, holding him still as he pushes back inside and calms him down again. 

It’s only when his heat starts slowing down in intensity that he gets the chance to finally turn around and face Jisung. When he does, he’s hit right away with the realization of how much he’s missed looking at his face, how much he’s missed seeing that sweet look in his eyes that now makes him only feel so loved. Minho’s gaze falls down on Jisung’s chest, his eyes staring for a moment at the tattoo he hasn’t gotten the chance to see that well until now, before moving once again, following his right hand as he uses it to slowly explore Jisung’s skin, tracing his fingers against his pecs, along his collarbones to his shoulders, down his arms until he reaches his narrow waist.

Minho hears Jisung chuckle softly when a small smirk appears on his own lips. But how else is he supposed to react, anyway? Jisung’s body looks so beautiful, so much better than he could’ve even imagined. He’s sure he would’ve lost his mind if Jisung hadn’t fucked him a few times already. 

Jisung doesn’t say anything, though, letting him touch him however he wants, until something vulnerable sparks under Minho’s skin simply looking at Jisung, making him sigh softly and curl up against him. So Jisung holds him, just like he’s been doing for all this time, so gently and carefully as if he doesn’t want anything but to make him feel good. 

“Is everything okay?” he asks him, after a few seconds. 

Minho nods. “Yeah. I was just thinking.”

Jisung’s left hand brushes against his arm, slips under it so he can reach and touch his back instead. Minho thinks he could fall asleep like this. 

“You’re being so kind to me,” Minho says finally. 

When he lifts his head to look at Jisung, he smiles, looks at him like he’s in love. “You don’t deserve any less.”

Minho’s gaze shifts down again, for a moment almost feeling himself getting so emotional that he fears he’s going to cry. He bites his cheek, blinking away the wet feeling in his eyes, swallowing down the tight grip in his throat. He hugs Jisung once again, tightening his arms around his waist and hiding his face in the crook of his neck. His scent calms him down, a certain comforting hint to it that Minho’s pretty sure wasn’t there before. 

They stay cuddled together like that for quite a while until Minho’s heat gets bad again. It starts slowly, a feeling inside of him that gets more and more intense before it becomes unbearable again. “It–” his voice gets cut by a quiet whimper. “It’s hurting again.”

He thinks about getting up, maybe turning on his side again to make it easier, but Jisung stops him with his hands and makes him roll on his back, sitting up from where he was lying down to move between his legs. Minho stares at him, eyelids shivering when Jisung lifts his legs up and bends them, spreading his cheeks with one hand and guiding his cock back inside of him with the other. 

Every time he does, a gasp comes out of Minho’s lips, but this is nothing like what he felt before. Because now Jisung’s right there, in front of him where Minho can look at him all he wants, staring at the way his muscles flex and relax with his movements, the way his eyes darken and his face scrunches up when he feels good. It’s a thousand times better than before, because Minho wouldn’t want anyone else. Seeing Jisung’s reactions, the possessive glint in his eyes when he grabs his hips more harshly and pulls him closer, the way his lips open just enough to let out a low grunt, it all makes Minho feel almost insane. 

“Look at you,” Jisung says, eyes roaming around on his body and then lifting up once again to find Minho’s. “You’re so beautiful.” 

It sounds so genuine that Minho can’t do anything else but believe him. He can feel his whole face getting hotter in a second, unable to stop himself from blushing. Jisung lowers himself, using the grip on Minho’s hips to keep him still as he keeps up his fast pace, burying his face in the crook of Minho’s neck, kissing and licking his skin. Minho lets his head fall back, feeling more warmth where Jisung’s lips press against his throat, slowly moving back up along his jaw, biting softly on his skin. 

“Feels good?” he asks him. 

Minho’s arms lift up, hands flying on Jisung’s shoulders, incapable of finding a good spot to hold onto. “Yeah,” he moans. “Fuck, fuck–”

Jisung’s hands let go of his hips, finding Minho’s hands on his own shoulders and taking them to pin them against the pillow, one on each side. Minho’s legs tighten around Jisung’s waist, lifting his own hips from the bed to help him get deeper. It’s messier, his body moving way more than it was before, but it feels good. Jisung’s breath is hot against his face, face flushed and half lidded eyes staring right into Minho’s. Something about them changes after a few seconds, making them look sweeter, maybe a bit uncertain, right before Jisung’s face gets even closer to Minho’s, their foreheads pressing together. Minho’s breath gets caught in his throat, not knowing for sure what’s going to happen but still anticipating it when their lips brush against each other. It takes not more than one second for Jisung to cave, his eyes falling shut and his lips pressing against Minho’s more insistently. They’re a little uncertain at first as they start to move, but they grow more and more confident when Minho kisses him back, wanting nothing more but for them to keep going. Jisung’s lips feel so good, so warm against his, spreading more heat throughout his body and making him almost desperate to feel more. His hands slip away from Jisung’s grip, moving back up to Jisung’s shoulders, sliding up until they reach the back of his head, pulling Jisung closer like he can’t have enough of him. 

The pace of Jisung’s thrusts slows down, getting messier and messier while Jisung kisses him deeper, holding his face with one hand as he licks into his mouth. Minho swallows down a moan, getting lost in the feeling of their tongues sliding together, almost to the point of forgetting about how bad he needs to be knotted. He wants this more than anything else, he has wanted this for so many weeks now. Just having Jisung close, kissing him like this. 

So, when Jisung pulls back, Minho chases his lips, trying to pull him closer again but failing. Jisung kisses his neck, making him pliant again when he thrusts his hips forwards again, resuming the pace from before. “Gotta knot you first,” he murmurs against his skin. 

Minho lets him go, his arms falling back against the mattress, eyes wide open when Jisung pushes himself back up on his knees again to move more easily. His moans and whimpers spill without restriction from his lips, now that they’re not kissing anymore, loud enough to make Minho feel almost embarrassed; but the reaction they draw from Jisung only pushes him closer to orgasm. 

“Alpha,” he calls him then, reveling in the way Jisung’s eyes lock on him, hungry and possessive. “Need my alpha to knot me.” 

“Fuck,” Jisung groans, nails digging into Minho’s thighs. 

Minho tightens his hold on the bed sheets, face scrunching up when he starts feeling it. “Please, please–” he begs, losing what was left of his composure. “Knot me.”

It doesn’t take long until Jisung comes, locking them together yet another time and triggering Minho’s orgasm too. It somehow still feels better than the others, even now that he’s starting to grow tired from all of the cramps and the neediness. 

He looks up at Jisung, eyes softening when he sees him lower himself back to where he was before, making Minho gasp softly when his knot shifts inside of him. He holds himself up on his forearms, one of his hands moving back to Minho’s face, cradling his cheek and caressing it with his thumb. 

When he finally kisses him again, Minho feels himself melting against the bed. He feels almost as needy as he was feeling before, once again pulling Jisung as close as possible with his hands, hoping he’ll never stop kissing him. They make out for a long time, simply basking in the peace of the moment. There’s nothing interrupting them, apart from the few times they have to pull apart to catch their breaths. Even after Jisung’s knot has gone down, they just move until they’re both lying down again, cuddling and kissing some more until they’re satisfied with it. 

Jisung rests his head against his shoulder, letting out a soft sigh and holding him close. It all just feels so comfortable now that his heat isn’t as strong as it was before, so comfortable that Minho starts to struggle keeping his eyes open. And he really doesn’t mean to fall asleep, but it happens nonetheless. 

When he wakes back up, it’s just about an hour later. Jisung isn’t lying down where he was before, instead sitting on the edge of the bed. He gives him a small smile when he notices he woke up, holding out a cup of instant ramen to him. “Are you hungry?” he asks. “You should eat something.”

Minho sits up, still feeling groggy after waking up so soon. His face scrunches up looking at Jisung’s cup. “I’m a bit nauseous,” he admits. “Don’t think I can eat yet.”

Jisung nods, humming. He places the ramen cup back on his bedside table, picking up instead a bottle of water. “What about this?”

Minho nods, grabbing it. He drinks from the bottle, hoping it will ease his headache, at least a little bit. The cold water feels good against his dry throat, exactly what he needed after so many hours spent in there. He can feel Jisung’s eyes on him as he drinks, catches them when he places the bottle back on the bedside table. 

“Thank you,” he tells Jisung. 

“Sorry if I woke you up,” Jisung says, even though Minho thinks he’s got nothing to do with it. “You should get some more sleep, now that you can.” 

A wave of warmth crashes against Minho’s chest. It feels good to have someone taking care of him like that, too. Reminding him to eat and drink, encouraging him to sleep when he needs to. Being there for him, making sure he has everything he needs. 

Minho can’t help but feel a little vulnerable again, not used to having so much. Jisung wanting him and caring for him like that was something he would have only dreamt about. 

He licks his lips, tearing his eyes away from Jisung’s. “I’ll just go to the bathroom and get back to sleep,” he says, nodding. 

He doesn’t spend much time there, coming back to his room right after. Jisung is lying down again by the time he does, on a part of the nest that is still dry, his eyes closed and his head resting against the pillow. Minho thinks he looks so peaceful, so soft, like he’s moments away from falling asleep. He still opens his eyes when he hears Minho walk closer to the bed, making space for him and waiting with a small smile on his lips for Minho to lie back down next to him. 

And Minho does, finding his space right beside him like he never got up in the first place. The sleepiness that made him fall asleep is still there, easily lulling him back like Jisung’s warmth is doing. He doesn’t know what time it is exactly, but he thinks his heat is probably going to get worse once again in a few hours at most. 

“Sleep,” Jisung tells him, his lips warm against Minho’s forehead. “I’ll be right here when you wake up.”

Minho hums, closing his eyes.

♡

Minho loses count of how many times Jisung knots him. He loses count of how many times Jisung calls him beautiful, but every time he does, it always feels as good as the first. 

Like now as Minho’s riding him sloppily, face buried in his neck so he can breathe in his scent and get drunk with it. His legs are tired, but he can’t help pushing himself to keep going, spurred by the way Jisung fucks up into him, holding him steady with his hands on his hips. He’s so dizzy, so fucked out and weak whenever Jisung breathes out a praise against his ear. Minho would be lying if he said that the way he feels is only caused by his heat. But it’s easy to let go, now, to let it all show, words and moans slipping easily out of his mouth and a deep blush making his skin hot. 

He’s in love with Jisung. If he wasn’t completely sure about it before, he’s sure about it now. How could he not be in love with him when he’s everything Minho ever wanted? He makes him feel so safe, so incredibly good, repeating the same words over and over until Minho believes him, telling him that he’s doing so well, that everything’s okay, that he looks so beautiful and that he’s making him feel so good. 

They stay like that after Jisung knots him, Minho sitting in his lap, his face still pressed against Jisung’s neck. His heart is beating fast inside his chest, loud in his ears, slowing down a little at a time. He can feel Jisung’s too, under the palm of his hand, beating just as fast. 

The second and third day go by slower than the first. Minho’s heat fades out soon enough, taking with it all of the nausea that he was feeling on the first day, the dizziness and the neediness. 

He manages to eat quite easily from that point on, very hungry now after skipping so many meals. The day his heat ends, Jisung brings to his room a bag filled with delivery food, explaining to him that Felix was apparently the one who ordered it for him and asked Jisung to make sure he got it.

Once he’s done eating and drinking some water, he gets up and out of his nest to finally go take a much needed shower, and when he comes back he decides he’s feeling good enough to completely tear apart his nest. Jisung helps him change his bed sheets, bringing the dirty ones to the laundry and tidying up anything that needs to be tidied up in his room. 

It’s only after that that they finally talk. They lie down a little more on his bed, enjoying a moment to relax and recharge their energies now that they can. It’s instinctive the way Minho scoots closer to Jisung, eventually finding himself in his arms. He thinks he should be the one to speak first, to explain everything from the start, although he doesn’t know where to start exactly. 

“Thank you,” he murmurs. “For taking care of me,” he adds, a little uncertain. 

“You don’t have to thank me,” Jisung tells him. “I mean, I..”

Minho looks at him, waiting for him to say what he wants to say. 

“I really wanted to. Not just for the heat stuff. I mean, not that I didn’t enjoy it, I really did, I just..” he tries to explain, looking so shy all of a sudden and stumbling on his words. Minho watches him as he takes a deep breath. “I like you. I like you so much, I’ve had a crush on you ever since we first worked together, and it only got worse when we became friends,” he finally confesses, laughing nervously. “And so, I really wanted to help you. I just hope it was good for you.” 

Minho stares at him, almost incredulous. Since we first worked together. “You like me?” he repeats. 

Jisung nods, looking back at him. His cheeks are slightly red now, eyes shy like he lost all of the confidence he had until an hour before. “I’m sorry that I kept it from you until now. I hope it doesn’t make anything weird between us.”

Minho shakes his head slowly. “I like you, too,” he says. 

“You do?”

“I thought it was pretty obvious, at this point.”

Jisung smiles, all of the worry gone from his face. “I just thought, you know, you were in heat, so…”

“Right,” Minho breathes out. “About that. I can explain everything.”

“Wait,” Jisung stops him. “I think it’s better for me to tell you now that..I already knew you were an omega before I found you in the bathroom.”

Minho freezes. “How did you know?”

Jisung squeezes his arm reassuringly. “Before you worry too much, no, nobody told me, nor did I say anything to anyone,” he says. “I didn’t know for sure. But I just..got a feeling. Sometimes you’d react in certain ways when people at uni talked about omegas. Your scent too, it barely ever changed much, which I thought was weird since we spent so much time together. And the way you reacted to my scent, too,” he explains. “I don’t think it’s easy to tell. We just spend so much time together and, you know, because I like you, I was really paying attention to the little details, I guess.”

Minho lowers his gaze, slowly processing his words. “Did you..always know?”

Jisung shakes his head. “No, it’s only quite recently that I really understood it.”

“But you’ve had a crush on me since we first worked together?”

Jisung laughs softly, looking embarrassed. “Yeah, I know, took me long enough to tell you,” he says. “Though it really did get much worse when we became friends. I only had a little crush at the start, but I think when we got close I got to really know how amazing you are.”

“Shut up,” Minho says smiling, pushing on his shoulder. Jisung has that look in his eyes again, that sweet one that Minho now knows the meaning of. 

“I wanted to thank you too, for trusting me enough to spend your heat with me,” Jisung tells him. “I know it must’ve been scary, and I get why you hide it from other people, so it makes me happy that you could trust me.”

“Of course I trusted you. How could I not?” he asks, laughing a little. “I was so scared of how you would react to me being an omega. I wanted to tell you before, I knew I would have to eventually. Because I liked you. I like you so much,” he admits, ducking his head, feeling himself getting more shy. “I was hoping you wouldn’t let me down.”

Jisung hugs him, holds him tight. Minho lets out a sigh, hugging him back. 

“I’m so sorry you have to go through this. You being an omega doesn't change anything for me. All those people at uni are idiots,” he tells him.  

Minho closes his eyes, basking in the feeling of Jisung’s arms around him. 

They stay like that for a while, cuddling and kissing some more. Minho loves the way Jisung holds him, loves the feeling of his lips against his own, loves that he doesn’t have to hide anything anymore. 

When the evening comes, Minho wonders if Jisung will stay once more. His heat is officially gone now, so there isn’t really a reason why he’d need Jisung to stay, but he can’t deny that he wants him here more than he ever has. 

“I know you should probably get back home soon, but do you want to sleep here tonight, too?” he asks him when they’re sitting at the table in the kitchen, just done eating some dinner. 

“Of course,” Jisung says, smiling softly. Minho smiles too, relieved, about to get up to take the dirty dishes to the sink. Jisung stops him before he can, though, placing his hand on his arm. 

“Actually, there’s something I’d like to ask you, too.”

Minho nods for him to continue, sitting back where he was. 

“Would you like to go on a date with me?” 

A date. Minho doesn’t really think they even need to go on a date, at this point, but the look in Jisung’s eyes tells him that he must have something in mind. “Yes. Of course.”

Jisung’s smile gets wider, though his gaze shifts down to the table when he starts speaking again. “I thought that maybe going on a date could make things a little more calm, after these past few days,” he explains. “I’d like you to be my boyfriend, but I don’t want to pressure you if you need time to process everything.”

Minho’s heart aches. Jisung is always so sweet. He reaches out, taking Jisung’s hand in his own hand. “I can’t say that I don’t need a little bit of time to process this, because it really was a lot, but..I meant it when I said that I like you. I really do. I’ve had a crush on you for a while, too, and I’ve been wanting to have you close like this for quite a while,” he says, smiling softly. His eyes keep jumping back and forth between Jisung’s and the table, more shy than he’s ever felt before. “So yes, I want to be your boyfriend. You don’t even know how much I want it.”

Jisung squeezes his hand back, looks at him like he’s about to cry. Then, he stands up, walks to the other side of the table and pulls on Minho’s hand until he stands up as well, letting go of his hand to pull him into a hug instead. 

“This feels like a dream,” he breathes out. 

“Tell me about it,” Minho agrees, smiling and laughing softly. 

They spend the rest of the evening together, getting back to their same old habit of watching some horror movie together. When the time to get back to sleep comes, they’re still together, lying once again in the same bed they’ve spent most of the past three days in. 

Minho doesn’t feel tired of it, though, not when he can be with Jisung. Jisung smiles at him, presses one last caste kiss on his lips before hugging him from behind. They fall asleep just like that, safe and comfortable. 

♡

Felix comes back home the day after. From what Jisung told him after his heat was done, Felix decided to spend a few days away at Hyunjin’s. Minho isn’t too worried about it, since it’s something that often happens when he’s going through his heat. Usually, instead of coming up with some weird excuse, Felix simply says that Minho is in rut and that he wants to give him space. 

The moment Felix walks into their apartment is also the moment Jisung’s about to go. Minho hugs him, pulls him closer to give him one last kiss before they part. He can feel Felix’s eyes on him, but his friend doesn’t say anything about it. 

“Bye,” Minho tells Jisung, smiling at him.

“Bye bye. Make sure to get some rest before you get back to classes,” Jisung says. 

Minho nods, though he’s not too sure whether he’ll actually do that or not. He watches Jisung walk towards the door, stopping one last time before going to say hi to Felix. Minho’s best friend has some type of smile on his face, a big happy one that also looks quite curious and surprised. 

Once Jisung’s gone, he turns his face towards Minho, his eyes bright and excited. “Hyung?” he asks, walking closer to him. 

“Yes?”

“What was that?” 

Minho smiles, licking his lower lip and crossing his arms. “That was Han Jisung.”

Felix shakes his head slowly, still looking as surprised as he was at the start. “What happened?”

Minho snorts, turning around and walking towards the couch. “I’m not about to tell you everything that happened this past few days, Yongbokkie,” he says, laughing. “You can imagine.”

“Wow. So he really did kno–”

“Please don’t,” Minho stops him. 

“I’m just surprised. I didn’t think it would all happen so quickly. I thought you didn’t even like him like that,” Felix explains, sitting next to him on the couch.

“I did. I just didn’t tell you,” Minho admits. 

Felix's expression becomes warmer. “So it went well?”

“Yeah. You can say that,” Minho replies, nodding and still smiling. “He likes me too, so..we’re together, now.” 

“Aw, hyung, I’m so happy for you!” Felix says. “But what happened, still? Your heat was hella early, wasn’t it?”

“I think Jisung might’ve triggered it,” Minho says. “I’m not used to spending so much time with an alpha.” 

“That makes sense,” Felix says, nodding. 

“The symptoms weren’t the usual ones, either,” Minho explains. “If I had known I was going into heat, I definitely wouldn’t have gone to class.” 

“Well, that went pretty well for you anyway, didn’t it?”

“It did,” Minho agrees, smiling softly. He still can’t believe that Jisung and him are together now. That Jisung wants him too. He almost still can’t believe anything that happened between them during these past few days. 

He still has that soft smile on his lips when he goes back to sleep that night. His bed still smells faintly of Jisung’s scent, although it’s nothing compared to having him here. It does help him fall asleep quickly, though, leading him to a deep sleep that recharges his energies after all of the things that happened these days. 

♡

When the day of their date finally comes, Jisung reveals that his idea was to have some sort of picnic in one of the green areas near their houses. Minho really doesn’t feel like he’s on a date, since he’s so used to spending his time with Jisung, but that only makes it better in his mind. It’s extremely comfortable to lay down on a random blanket, under the soft sun rays of a late afternoon, watching the last leaves falling off of a tree standing tall next to them. It’s even more comfortable when they stop pretending they don’t want to be as close as possible to each other. Jisung sits up with his back against the trunk of the tree and Minho leans against him, free of any worry when he pushes his face once again in the crook of Jisung’s neck, breathing in his scent. There aren’t a lot of people around, and the quietness of it all seems to almost be able to stop time for a moment. It’s nice, almost too nice to be real. 

Minho closes his eyes, sighing when he feels Jisung instinctively trying to scent him. He has his scent patch back on, now, but he decided to not use his usual cologne today so he can smell like Jisung instead, if anything.

“I miss your scent,” Jisung mumbles.

“Sorry. I just don’t know if I’d feel comfortable not using my scent patches like I’m used to. I mean, I’m sure it’d be fine in places like this, but–”

“It’s okay. I didn’t mean it like that,” Jisung stops him. “I do miss it a lot but I would never ask you to stop wearing scent patches if you’re not comfortable with that. As I said before, I get why you do this.”

Minho hums. 

“If you ever want to try not using them, I’ll support you of course. I’ll always be there to support you. But don’t worry. I like a lot of things about you, not just your scent.”

Minho smiles, shaking his head slowly. “Sap.”

“You like it,” Jisung shoots back. His smile slowly fades away, though his expression remains calm when he talks again. “On a serious note, I really hope you know that there’s nothing wrong with being an omega. Those people at uni are just dumbasses.” 

“Yeah. I guess sometimes it can be hard to remind myself of it,” Minho says, looking down at their linked hands. “I know it, because I myself think it’s fucking stupid to think that way, but sometimes when I’m there in the moment I still struggle with it.”

“Maybe we can try to do something about it?”

Minho’s expression hardens. “I don’t know. I’ve seen people try to shut them up before and it never ends up well. I’m not the type to keep my head down like this, but I also don’t wanna waste my energy. I think I’ll be fine as long as I have good people around me.” 

Jisung hums, squeezing his hand. “Chan hyung and Changbin hyung are totally cool too, by the way. Changbin hyung had an omega friend in the past and he literally started a fight to defend them. Like, a physical fight. He was so angry.” 

“Sounds like something he’d do,” Minho says, smiling slightly. “I do sometimes wonder about other people who might be like me. I’m sure there are other omegas posing either as alphas or betas. I just hope they’re not too lonely, I guess.” 

“Well, if we can’t do anything to shut up those annoying people, maybe we can do something for other omegas? Chan hyung knows a lot of people. He’d know how to draw in people who need a safe space,” Jisung suggests. 

Minho thinks about it. He doesn’t know how that would work, really, it’s not something he thought he’d even have the chance of ever doing before he found his current friend group, but it does sound like a good idea. It seems easier now that he has some support. “We can try that.” 

“Okay,” Jisung murmurs. “I’ll just talk to them when I get home. For now, I want to stay with you,” he adds, squeezing him tighter. 

Minho turns his head towards him, holding onto Jisung’s waist as he kisses him. “Thank you,” he murmurs right after, sighing and lowering his face until he can hide against Jisung’s neck. “For everything.”

“I just want you to be happy,” Jisung tells him. “You look so pretty when you smile.” 

“Your smile is prettier,” Minho tells him, still blushing without being able to stop it. 

“That’s good. ‘Cause I do tend to smile a lot when I’m with you.” 

Minho giggles. “Do you?” He lifts his head up to look at Jisung, finds his smile already there, waiting for him. 

“Do I?” Jisung asks, pinching one of Minho’s red ears. “You’re pretty when you blush, too,” he tells him, then. “You’re beautiful.”

His eyes are so soft as they’re looking at him. “If you don’t stop it I will overheat and explode,” Minho says. 

Jisung smiles, as he always does when he’s with Minho. “Please don’t explode,” he tells him, pulling Minho in and kissing him, soft and so full of love. Minho finds himself thinking there isn’t anything else he wants. 

They spend a couple more hours there. Minho knows they’ll spend many more together.