Chapter Text
Thousands of new scents assaulted Perth’s nose, sickeningly sweet and over saturated. Sweat soaked his shirt, the new scent resistant fabric of his jacket unreasonably thick for Thailand’s famously hot weather. At this rate the newly applied scent blockers would need to be replaced at least twice before his classes are over.
“I cant believe they really merged our campuses.” His best friend Gemini complained, leaning against the wall behind him. “Its like walking into a perfume factory, I can’t even imagine what you’re going through.” He sent a sympathetic glance Perth’s way.
“It’s terrible.” Perth agreed, the urge to just stay home until the stronger suppressants he ordered arrived.
“Why not just go home for the day man? If I were in your shoes I wouldn’t torture myself this much.” William questioned as he finally joined their group. They were outside the faculty entrance, seated in the little bit of shade the building provided.
“Hia!” A loud happy call rang through the afternoon air. Perth stood up immediately, his discomfort pushed to the back of his mind.
“Fourth?” He asked as the boy happily bounced in their direction. Perth suddenly became very aware of the amount of Alphas around them. They might have merged with the omega campus but the board still had the decency of separating the campus somewhat, omega classes were held on the other side of campus to at least prevent too much interaction.
“Here comes the answer to your question.” Gemini laughed when he noticed the confused look on William’s face. “That’s Fourth, Perth’s youngest brother. As you can see he’s an omega.”
“That’s right, I remember you saying Perth has two omega brothers.” William put two and two together. “Don’t tell me they were both apart of the merge?”
“Yeah,” Gemini crossed his arms as he watched Fourth make his way through the crowd. “Imagine being in his shoes, his two precious brothers are suddenly surrounded by Alphas. I wouldn’t go home either.” William could only nod along.
“Hia!” Fourth called again when he got closer only to yelp as he slammed into someone’s chest.
“You know,” Someone said as they wrapped their arms around is waist. “Merging with the omega campus doesn’t seem so bad if they’re all even half as cute as you are.” The alpha said, pulling a struggling Fourth closer.
“For an alpha you look barely passable…” Fourth gave up fighting the hold around him when he saw Perth’s dark eyes as he walked their way. “If it wasn’t for that blue eye and your broken arm that is.”
“Blue eye?” The alpha questioned. “What are you t-” The guy couldn’t even finish his sentence before the unmistakable sound of bone snapping echoed through the crowd that formed.
The Alpha screamed in pain, whipping around with his unbroken arm ready to punch the person behind him. Pain shot through him as a solid fist met his face instead.
“Hia, that’s enough!” Fourth walked to Perth’s side before facing the guy and smiling again. “That blue eye and broken arm.”
“You!” The guy cursed.
“Next time don’t do that to an omega, it’s not as attractive as you think it is.” Fourth laughed as the guy sprang towards him again. Gemini quickly pulled Fourth behind him, a strong steady hand on his wrist.
“Learned nothing?” Perth questioned, his voice deathly calm. He met the guy half way with a foot to the gut. The alpha flew backwards landing harshly on the concrete. “Try that again and you’ll wake up in the ICU.”
“Man lets go!” Another alpha quickly went to the guy’s side. “That’s Perth Tanapon.” He whispered to the guy, not that whispering helped, the crowd were primarily alphas after all.
“Perth Tanapon? The famous enigma from year four?” Someone in the crowd questioned causing the whole crowd to burst into whispers.
“He fucked with the omega of an enigma? He’s dead meat!”
“I heard he really has sent someone to the ICU before!”
“I’ve never actually seen an enigma before, he looks like he’d kill the guy for touching that omega.”
“Take your friend to the doctor,” Perth eyed the man on the ground. “Feel free to send me the bill, I accidentally went to far.”
“No, no… It’s okay!” The friend quickly helped his buddy up. “It’s his fault! All his fault!” He forced the alpha to bow as best he could with the bruised ribs he no doubt had. “We’ll be going now. No hard feelings right?” He called as he quickly rushed his friend away.
The crowd quickly dispersed, one look from Perth enough to have them scatter like ants. Gemini gave Fourth a once over before letting go of his wrist when he was sure the omega wasn’t hurt.
“You okay?” Perth asked as he hugged his youngest brother, the boy’s slightly distressed omega scent calming immediately. “How many times has that happened today?”
“Well it wasn’t the first.” Fourth shrugged. “Some asshole alphas came to our side of campus and started to harass some omegas. Phi kicked one of them in the balls before the professors came though so all is good.”
“Where is he?” Perth asked. He’d definitely have a problem with the faculty if is brother got in trouble for protecting himself.
“He’s checking club activities, you know him. If he can’t join the basketball club the school’s gonna have a problem on their hands.”
“He wants to join a club full of alphas?” William butted in, worry written all over his face.
“Why not? My brother has more skill in his little finger than most of those alphas combined.” Perth said, his arms crossed sternly.
“Relax Hia, this is your friend is he not? What have I said about being mean to friends?” Fourth mediated for his stubborn brother. “Hi! I’m Fourth!” He greeted happily.
“William, first year.” The alpha greeted back. “Gemini has told me a lot about you.”
“He has?” Fourth’s face lit up. “Of course he has! I’m his best friend!” He giggled out as he hopped to Gemini’s side to throw an arm around his shoulder.
“You are not my best friend.” Gemini shrugged Fourth’s hand off, a smile playing on his lips.
“That’s because Hia stole you when I presented as an omega!” Fourth sulked playfully as they started to head towards the basketball club.
“You and Phi Gem are the same age right? Were you friends first?” William questioned.
“Gem and I have been friends since high school,” Fourth threw his arm around Gemini’s shoulder again. “Hia started to treat him like a little brother but when I presented as an omega I had to transfer schools. Hia and Gem got closer after I left, they became ‘best friends’.” He said, adding air quotes as he called them best friends.
“Don’t act like I shoved you away.” Gemini softly flicked is forehead.
“Says the guy who just said I’m not his best friend!”
Perth listened to the bickering between his brother and best friend, slightly lost in the conversation. He found himself too focused on the small lingering touches between his alpha best friend and his precious youngest omega brother to pay attention to his surroundings, the notion leaving a slightly bitter taste in his mouth.
A soft bump pulled him out of his head, a startled yelp ringing in his ear. Instinctively he wrapped is arms around a small waist, hoping to stop the person from falling face first as they collided with his body. Misjudging his strength as always, he accidentally pulled the person back into himself. Soft and fragrant fluffy hair brushed past his nose before it came into contact with the fair soft skin at the back of the person’s neck.
Perth quickly snapped his hands away from the person’s waist and took three whole steps back with his hands in the air. The soft sweet smell of omega pheromones lingered on the tip of is nose, the scent calm and intoxicating. Nothing like the overwhelming scents he’s been exposed to all day. It clung to his senses, his whole body relaxing slightly.
“I’m sorry,” He apologized quickly. “I didn’t mean to.” Though his scent glands were packed with patches and his jacket was scent resistant his enigma aura and scent still hovered around him slightly. Even betas had a hard time being to close to him, he couldn’t even imagine how uncomfortable he made this omega by basically wrapping him in his scent. God he basically nosed at the kid’s scent glands. He wouldn’t be surprised if the guy sued him.
“It’s fine!” The boy turned around and Perth’s breath caught in his throat. Soft fluffy brown hair styled just right, big beautiful eyes that crescent slightly the moment his round puffy cheeks invade their space as he smiles breathtakingly in Perth’s direction. This was the most beautiful person Perth has ever seen. “We all make mistakes and nobody was hurt, you even caught me.”
The soft alluring omega scent seemed to vanish instantly, like it never even existed in the first place. Instead something distinctly Alpha wafted off of the boy, the scent wasn’t overpoweringly strong. Just floated around him like a blanket. At first Perth thought the boy might have an Alpha already, a thought that irritated him more than he would like to admit, but the scent seemed to come from him instead of around him. This kid was clearly an Alpha.
For the first time in his life Perth questioned his abilities as an enigma.