Chapter Text
"Good Morning!"
"Good morning."
Here it was. The interaction that made him wake up early every day. Small. Almost imperceptible. Far from anyone else's ears. It was so ridiculous that it shouldn't even be counted as an interaction.
But it was their thing. It's a thing that was pre-established and had been happening since the first day, when Porchay thought he would be the first one in the classroom, wanting to be able to choose where to sit and disappear into the sea of other students.
But when he arrived, there was already someone in the room. That Alpha. Some time later, Porchay would find out that he wasn't just any alpha to that institution, but even when he had no idea of Kimhan's influence, he already had it in his head that the alpha was different.
Because never before had he not been the first to arrive in class. Porchay still tried for a while, waking up earlier and earlier, but besides not working, the alpha seemed aware of his intentions, as he always greeted him with a little smile saying "nice try".
In time, he gave up on beating the alpha at this and was content to be second in line. And if on the one hand he might have been a little irritated in the first days, it didn't take long before he felt eager to arrive at the college, not to be the first, but to be able to say good morning and then have a few good minutes alone with the other. (Maybe just maybe to sniff hidden his soft smell).
Summing up. Yes, Porchay was in love with the most popular alpha in school like an idiot in some fanfic.
"You know, one of these days someone should warn you that staring at other people is rude." He blinked, automatically turning his eyes away from Kimhan's chair and looking at Macau, his best (and only) friend from college.
"I wasn't staring." he murmured, frowning. "And why are you in my class?" His question, obviously, was completely ignored. It wasn't as if anyone wasn't used to Macau invading music college classes whenever he could.
"You were almost dissecting him." He grunted, rolling his eyes as Macau sat down at his desk, taking advantage of the teacher's tardiness to make himself comfortable. "Why don't you ever talk to him?"
"What would I talk to him about?" he asked back and received a shrug of the shoulders. "That's right. There's nothing to talk about. And I don't want to."
"Oh, please, you almost purr when he talks." He choked, slapping the other man on the leg as he looked around to see if anyone had heard what Macau had said.
Luckily for him, everyone seemed oblivious to the two of them.
"Shut up, I have nothing to say to him and I don't want to." Macau made a debauched sound with his mouth and finally left his desk and sat down in the chair next to him. "Not to mention that I don't want to be the next target of his fans."
"I like how you say "his fans" pretending that you're not one either." he snorted, staring at his friend.
Macau was the sharpest-tongued beta that he had ever met. Usually some betas felt intimidated around Omegas or Alphas who had stronger smells, but not Macau. Macau must even be the person with the strongest smell in the whole room.
There was a rumor going around and Porchay just took random parts of it that Macau's older brother was an alpha lupus, so he always had some of his brother's smell stuck on him, which would explain how everyone always mistook him at first sight for an alpha.
But he never touched on that subject, so I couldn't tell how true that was.
"I'm not a fan of his." He frowned, whispering. "Maybe, just maybe, a lonely admirer. And occasional."
"You know I have your twitter, right?" He shrugged, facing Macau as if to say 'So what?’ "Then you know that I know you've spent the last two days freaking out about his latest video, right?"
Okay, maybe Macau had a point. Chay tried not to give too much importance to the fact that he felt his face turning red while listening to his friend's barely contained laughter. He didn't pay attention to this, focusing his eyes on the classroom door, waiting for the professor to come in.
Not least because Porchay is not an idiot. He knows when he has a chance and when he doesn't. Survive a day without coffee? Low chances. Getting good grades in the most complicated subject in college? High chances. Being right in the middle of the next big mess? Chances are almost guaranteed. Having the college's most handsome alpha with whom he only exchanges three or four words a day interested in him?
No chance.
-*-
Chay hated group work. For several reasons. The stupidest of his reasons was that he was never lucky enough to be in the group that Kimhan was in, or to be able to team up with him.
And the main reason: he works best alone. Porchay was never the type to prefer solitude, but his concepts changed after he went to college. It seemed normal in the first days, but then he discovered that nobody (besides Macau) wanted to be his friend.
Or talk to him. Or look at him for a long time.
And his brother was still assuring him that that college had received awards for its gender equality policy.
'Nice policy,' he thought wryly, as he watched his teammates not even daring to look in his direction. He sighed, giving up trying to maintain eye contact, he would just sit there and do whatever he was tasked to do.
There wasn't much that could happen anyway.
"Hey, can you be in charge of the presentation part?" He blinked, arching an eyebrow before he was sure that yes, the alpha in front of him was talking to him.
Apparently he was the leader of the group. And he was actively including Porchay in this. Felt himself smiling, nodding emphatically.
He couldn't remember his face very well, so he assumed he had been one of those who had requested a transfer from some different course or institution. It made a little more sense if you thought of it that way, if the alpha was new, there was no way he could already be aware of whatever it was that made everyone else avoid him.
Or if he knew, he didn't care. Looked good, he loved Macau, but his friend missed a lot of classes and they no longer studied in the same course, so it was easy for Porchay to end up alone most of the time. Who could blame him for being excited at the prospect of at least having someone to talk to?
"Of course I can." he said, wanting to get over the startled looks the alpha was getting. It seemed to work, because he got a smile back and soon they were in a small, animated conversation.
It wasn't a really long conversation, just something silly, and soon they needed to schedule another meeting, this time probably in the library to continue talking about work since they still had other classes to attend.
It had been silly, but enough to put a smile on his face all week whenever he managed to exchange a word with the friendly alpha. Macau didn't seem too happy about the news, first worried for the first few days, but then disgusted, and Chay wondered if his friend wasn't jealous.
Chay would reassure him later about that, he didn't have to worry with anything the alpha was just a colleague he got along with.
Speaking of colleagues, he had started his day like everyone else, being the second to enter the room, saying good morning to Kim and receiving a good morning in return.
The difference only came in the few minutes he had alone with Kim to sniff him out covertly. Now, if he was being honest with himself, that was an important part of his routine, the sniffing and making sure that yes, the definitely-not-his alpha was as good and calm as ever. And today... today the smell seemed bitter. As if something was disturbing him.
Sure, it was normal, there was no one who didn't have a bad day, but Porchay wasn't used to it. Every day he was always greeted with the light fragrance of peach and wet earth, now something was wrong. He wanted to get up and ask what had happened, if he could help, he wanted to help.
He frowned and bit his lip, wishing he wasn't as worried about it as he was. That wasn't even his alpha.
"Yet" His omega internally growled at no one in particular and he felt sorry for himself, right, of course, that was the way things worked. Oh, poor deluded dreamer his omega was.
His little internal squabble lasted long enough for more people to enter the room and soon it was impossible to distinguish Kim's faint whiff of discontent from everyone else. But that didn't stop Porchay from not being able to think about anything else during the entire class.
-*-
"Kim is acting strange today. "
That was the first thing Porchay said to Macau when they met at break. His friend just arched an eyebrow, urging him to talk more, already knowing that Chay varied between talking for five hours straight about his one-sided crush on Kim and pretending that he had never even seen or heard of the same alpha before.
"His smell, you know, it's like he's angry." And he pouted, sitting down next to the beta who laughed softly.
"I bet he is." He replied, the ironic tone in his voice not escaping Porchay. "It shouldn't take long anyway."
"Take a while for what?" He asked, curious, but before Macau could answer, Chay straightened up in his chair, stretched out his hand and gave beta's arm a firm squeeze.
Kim walked towards him. In the direction he was sitting. To the table that Macau and Chay and only the two of them shared. No one sat together with them (Courtesy of Porchay's presence, since Macau was very popular in college).
Internally, was waiting for the alpha to either look away from him, or change his path, but no, he got closer and closer until he was at the front of the table.
"... What?" Macau finally broke the silence, sounding very calm. Too calm for Chay's taste , it sounded almost as if he was used to talking to Kim. God, he needed some lessons from his friend on how to act all cold and nonchalant in front of the most handsome man in the world.
"Kinn wants to know if you, Vegas and Pete will want to go to the opening of the new business tomorrow."
'Who were Kinn, Vegas and Pete?'
'Did they have friends in common?'
'Was Macau friends with Kim all this time and never told him?'
'Oh my God, he is so hot.'
'I'm going to kill Macau. I will seriously kill Macau.'
'Holy shit is he looking at me?'
His friend seemed to hold back a giggle and bit his lips lightly, his eyes shining with interest. Porchay generally considered himself good at reading people, even more so if they were his friends, but he couldn't even breathe effectively while Kim was moving to sit next to him let alone try to read the beta's expression.
He held his breath, not knowing what the hell to do. He was in the middle of the two of them staring at each other and he must have had some very good reason for the whole situation, really, it would make Macau spit all about it later. But now he just thought about how his scent had never been so close to him and, jesus- was that Kim's arm going to lean on the back of Chay's chair?
"You came here to ask if- Wow, Kim." Macau laughed, denying with his head in exasperation. " I will talk to them today. Unless you want me to call them and confirm now?"
"Yes, it would be very... helpful of you to take your cell phone and go check with them. Now."
Macau shook her head and muttered an "Unbelievable" before leaving. Porchay wanted to shout at him to wait, because damn it, since when was his best friend a merciless demonic being who forgot him at a table alone with the boy he was in love with?!
That's not what Porchay applied for when he agreed to be adopted by beta.
"Have you and my cousin been friends for a long time?" He blinked, turning his head to be sure. And yes, Kim was talking to him. Sitting across from him, still with one arm resting on the back of Porchay's chair. Looking so innocent, as if he had no idea of the effect he was causing.
"Macau is your cousin?" Asked, indignant, as he processed the new information. "He never even mentioned that he knew you!"
That earned a small smile from the alpha, who shrugged.
"I didn't think so. We don't talk much." He nodded, wondering if somehow they were quarreling or not on good terms with each other.
But it didn't make much sense then that Kim had gone to talk to him in front of the entire faculty.
"I have to go." Kim spoke, too fast for Chay's taste and especially too fast for Chay's omega who was in the clouds smelling the other so close. Even more so now, that his scent was back to its usual sweet and serene, the bitter notes fading away as if they had never existed in the first place.
He wrung his hands, looking around, trying to find some excuse that would justify Kim staying a little longer.
"But Macau is not back yet." He pointed out, which was true. There was no sign of the Beta anywhere.
"He can answer me later."
"So what was the point of asking him to go out and make a call?"
he asked, before he could stop himself. But come on, he had a point. The situation was confusing and there were some pieces that didn't fit together.
Kim was the one who blinked now, slowly, before smiling in Porchay's direction and automatically spoiling his heart for anyone else because if that smiling alpha wasn't the sight of heaven...
"I didn't come here because of Macau and his stupid phone call." He frowned, twisting his mouth slightly, now sure, Kim was his dream and the only possible alpha for Chay, but that didn't give him the right to speak in that tone of his only friend.
He opened his mouth to retort, but Kim was quicker, speaking over him as he got up from the table.
"By the way, tell Macau when he gets back that you are also invited to come over if you want, angel."
And he walked off, leaving a broken Porchay, blue screen and all, trying to process what had just happened.
'angel'
-*-
"I don't believe you Macau! I can't believe it, you- I- You had NO RIGHT! He- URGH!" Porchay was like a broken record working at the highest possible volume inside the beta's head. He had already tried to explain himself, to apologize, he even bought Porchay's favorite candy as a peace offering, but nothing saved him from the sermon that was already two hours long.
"It's not my fault, okay? He's the one who told me never to talk to him in college in the first place." He shrugged his shoulders, finally gaining some empathy from the omega that had deflated from the continuing burst of anger, slowly chewing the candy.
"Is he a jerk to you?"
"Kim?"
"Yes, he's a jerk to you?! Is that why you never told me that you are cousins? Macau, listen, don't be sorry to break my illusions about the perfect alpha, if he is a jerk to you, let me know, I can and will kick him where it hurts."
The ending made Macau let out a strangled laugh, arching his eyebrows in surprise at the protective tone. He ignored the buzz of joy in his head and the instinct to stick his head in the crook of the other's shoulder to show his happiness, but it wasn't cold enough to hide the soft purr that left his throat.
"Kim is an idiot. But not especially an idiot with me." Said after a while, deciding that if Kim was confident enough in his decisions to invite Porchay to one of his opening parties, he didn't have to tread on eggshells anymore when it came to his friend's own family. "You need to stop reading so many fanfics, not everything has a great plot-twist behind it."
"Tell me to stop reading so many fanfics one more time and you will end up with your cousin on the list of people I can and I will hit where it hurts the most."
"I'll tell you where you want to hit my cousin."
"MACAU!"
And they were laughing again, in fact, Porchay was trying to keep up his angry mask (he really was angry for a moment), but now he could only describe himself as happy. He felt that the small but ever-present barrier around Macau had fallen away.
In fact, no matter how many rumors about his brother rang out around the college, Macau had never opened his mouth to say anything about his family. Not even when Porchay complained for hours about his own older brother, all the beta did was nod fiercely as if he understood first-hand all the pain it was, but never joined in the complaints.
He hummed suddenly, overjoyed to note that Kim's approach brought him a good thing. In an ideal world, he might already feel like the promised omega, being best friends with the most popular alpha's cousin... having him sit at his table and invite him to a party...
Being honest and taking the pink filter out of his eyes for a minute, if anything, Kim was just trying to be nice to his cousin's friend. Or, at best, Kim really flirted with him and hoped for a chance to fuck Porchay at the party and then never look him in the face again.
But reality was boring and unromantic, he wanted his pink filter. So, ignoring all the warnings in his head that screamed 'Don't be stupid, there's something wrong with all this,' he stopped in front of Macau, grabbed his best friend's hand and looked deep into his eyes.
"You need to help me decide on my outfit."
The beta shrugged, nodding without thinking much about it. What harm would it do to help his friend choose an outfit?! How long could that take?
"Sure."
Before anything more could be said, Porchay perked up as he looked away from his friend and Macau followed his line of sight, wondering what on earth he might have seen. And then a small smile crossed his face.
The beta took a few steps back, wanting to witness the whole scene. In the background, the nameless alpha also noticed Porchay and smiled, suddenly all smug as he changed his path closer to the two. He wasn't ugly or anything, Macau thought, analyzing him from top to bottom, he looked kind of slovenly however, with a snobbish pose.
Oh, maybe that's Porchay's type. The stuck-up snobs.
"Chay." The alpha was getting closer and closer to the two, and the beta bit his lip to keep from laughing when he saw the other increasingly wavering about continuing to walk closer to them.
Chay didn't notice, but Kim had practically bathed him in his scent and inasmuch as alphas were especially sensitive to the smells of other alphas, Macau was almost impressed that the guy hadn't already turned and run off with his tail between his legs.
Whether out of courage or stupidity, who knew.
"Oliver! How are you?"
Porchay asked and of course, he was genuinely interested in the answer, intruding himself into the alpha's personal space. He almost felt sorry for Oliver, but figured he would now understand Kim's message.
He sighed, watching his friend's face sadden as Oliver stuttered a few times and walked away, his steps quick in another direction. His cousin was an idiot, but even Macau recognized that there was no way to properly protect his own without hurting them in the process. Or deprive them of some experiences. Not from the place they came from.
"Chay..." He began, not really knowing what to say. But the Omega, to his credit, didn't seem to be shaken by what had happened for long.
"It's okay, I'll talk to him some other time." He shrugged, turning to walk back with Macau. "I don't know what happened or what he heard about me, but if I insist enough he's going to have to listen to me sometime."
He laughed, nodding, not believing what he was hearing.
"You're going to force him to be your friend, is that it?"
All he got in return were pairs of large and only partially innocent eyes blinking in his direction.
-*-
He had been caught in a trap. But Macau noticed it too late, around the time the sixteenth hanger flew past his head, another discarded piece of clothing.
He blinked, staring at the ceiling, how long had he been there? Two hours? Six hours? A day and a half? He had already lost count and the only window in the room was completely covered by more clothes that were discarded from Porchay's merciless judgment.
He had thought it was an exaggeration on his friend's part when he had seen him begging Macau to come to his house two days before the party was to take place, but seeing now with his own eyes the mess of clothes, accessories, and shoes that the room had become, Macau thought that perhaps not even a month's notice would be enough to avoid this chaos.
That is, of course, not counting the factor:
"PORSCHE!" Porchay whined, looking miserable at the cross-eyed look his brother gave him from the doorway.
Apparently no one had remembered the overprotective older brother that was Porsche. Macau had only heard stories, but now he was seeing firsthand the source of most of Porchay's complaints about never being able to experience the same things as the other teenagers.
As it turned out, they had had a fight the night before because Porchay didn't accept the stern "no" Porsche gave him about going to the party. And it was the first time he had gone against his older brother's orders, which set off all the danger sirens in Porsche's head.
Now, Chay still didn't have his explicit consent, but he behaved as if his going to the party was guaranteed and Macau just accepted that he was automatically placed in the circle of "friends who are a bad influence on Porchay.”
"You can't be a party pooper about it, you went out partying all the time when you were much younger than me!"
"It was different Porchay, I-"
"Different how?! You like to behave as if you don't, but you are also an omega!"
"I don't- Porchay, who taught you to talk like that?"
"Don't look at Macau! It's just, I really want to go to this party! If you think it's so bad, why don't you come along?"
At this moment the beta's eyes widened, staring at Porchay. What do you mean "Why don't you come along?"
"Because he wasn't invited!"
His mind screamed, but he bit his lip, stopping himself from commenting. It was okay, there was no way his friend could know what the party was about or what kind of people attended them, nor could he begin to dream about how restricted or how much security he had.
While the brotherly discussion was going on a few feet away from Macau's half-dead body, he let himself be convinced without any struggle and picked up his cell phone, opening the Vegas corner and asking with an exaggeration of hearts and glowing emojis for his brother to get him an extra invitation.
Thirty minutes and a threat to tell Pete that a beta business partner had tried to flirt with Vegas later, he had an extra invitation in hand.
"Okay! Okay, I'll let you, but only because I can go along." Porsche took a deep breath and approached his brother, running a hand through his hair. "I don't want to deprive you of anything, you know, I'm just worried, okay? I trust you, I'll go in, just to make sure everything's okay and then I'll come back."
"You don't have to leave, you can stay with us." Even Porchay's cute pout didn't completely annul Macau's desire to come over and slap him on the back of the head. What do you mean "you don't have to leave?"
'Of course he did.'
"No, I doubt you'll be able to enjoy it one hundred percent if I'm there and... I also don't think I can be non-threatening to anyone who looks at you. "Porsche, thanks God, was more aware than Macau gave him credit for.
The brothers talked, this time without shouting for a few more moments, now because Porchay wanted to convince his brother to lend him something from his wardrobe, because he 'didn't have enough good clothes'.
The beta kind of agreed, but that was no big point either. It wasn't as if anyone in that house could afford a luxury brand, and no matter how well and stylishly Porchay dressed, he would get some unobtrusive stares for not wearing a designer label.
Macau could offer some clothes from his own wardrobe, but he wondered what it would be like if the Omega showed up at the party smelling like him from head to toe and he gave up on the idea. He liked his own head securely glued to his body, thank you very much.
And buying an outfit for Porchay, as much as it wouldn't bother his bank account at all was out of the question, the omega vetoed the idea so hard when he suggested it that Macau knew it was a losing fight. All he could do was watch the pointless bickering of the two omegas, Porchay wanting to find an outfit nice enough for his parameters and Porsche vetoing all the options he deemed indecent.
He sighed and picked up his cell phone again, distracting himself while he watched his secret TikTok, switching from one to the other calmly and without worrying about time or other priorities, he had already warned that he would be spending the night there anyway.
When that thought crossed his mind, Macau smiled and picked up his cell phone, noticing that Porchay was half leaning into a drawer and took advantage of the moment to take a hidden picture (taking extra care that Porsche didn't notice) and sent it, rolling over in bed and of course, it didn't take more than two minutes to receive a reply.
Kim > Fuck you, Macau.
He bit the inside of his cheek while typing a reply.
Macau > Enjoy the new screen lock, cousin.
I'll charge you for the next one!
He was about to put his cell phone away now, wanting to get up to at least convince Porchay to try to pick out a blouse, but Kim answered sooner than he anticipated.
Kim > Go to hell.
Tell me your price.
-*-