Chapter Text
When Jongho presented it was an unusual situation to begin with.
First, at 20 he was far past the normal presentation age of 15 and had long been classified as a Beta with Alpha-leaning traits due to his strength and bulk. Second, he had been away from his pack. Covid had them all in lockdown and unfortunately, Jongho had been at his parent's, taking care of the house while they took a vacation.
He was completely alone and blindsided when he woke up in the middle of the night to burning heat, shocks of pain firing through his veins and a craving for a knot that lasted for 4 days and led to numerous phone calls reassuring everyone he’d just needed some alone time away from screens and forgot to drop a text beforehand.
Late presentations within packs weren’t super uncommon. It was well documented for as-of-yet unpresented pups to present when accepted into an adult pack to ease the change or fill a pack's needed dynamics once pack bonds had been established. However, that presentation always happened within the confines of a pack den surrounded by pack members. It was needed to trigger the presentation itself.
That's not to say a pack needed every dynamic within them. Packs of single dynamics or lacking a dynamic entirely weren’t uncommon and on occasion were healthier than others. Beta’s often leaned into sub-dynamic typings when in packs with other dynamics, Alpha-leaning or Omega-leaning depending on physical and biological traits they displayed.
These sub-dynamics were not set in stone either, they could shift and change depending on a pack's requirements at the time but their core dynamic could not be changed, They were set to neutral and that couldn't be changed with any amount of intervention.
Alpha to Omega changes and vice versa sure- bitching and studding were carefully monitored medical procedures even if they did take place in the home of those involved- but never a Beta to an Omega or Alpha. It just didn’t happen.
Until it did. Until it happened to Jongho and he was alone to deal with the fallout.
He was an omega… an omega in a pack praised for their alpha statuses and one alpha with a phobia of omegas so strong that just catching their scent could send him into a spiral. Mingi… their precious baby rapper. How could he ever be something that would hurt their princess?
So he hid. Covered his natural Cherry blossom and Strawberry scent in a scent spray. Got a favour from a family friend for a prescription of suppressants and never missed a day after that. For two years he’d managed to hide
And then it all went to shit.
Jongho stared at the bottle in his hands as if it had personally offended him. In a way it had. He was out of suppressants. For the first time since he presented. For the first time since that very first heat.
He could already feel his body gearing up for a cycle and now he’d realised that he could feel the instincts pushing him to nest and cuddle and scent with his Alphas.
Jongho squashed it down, took a deep breath to force a sense of calm and scrambled to piece together when his next prescription collection was, paling when he realised it would be at least three months even if he placed an emergency order that day. His particular brand was popular and he had been warned when he picked up his last bottle to use them sparingly to ensure his supply would last until the restock.
He hadn’t listened… Well, he had, but they were all so stressed with a new comeback soon and Mingi’s phobia around omegas seemed to get even worse after an incident at their last fansign. It was still up in the air if their soft Alpha would even participate in the promotions with all the omega groups promoting simultaneously. Jongho couldn't afford to skip a day of his suppressants or go down to the recommended amount. Not now.
He’d already been pushing his usage, taking just above the recommended dose to not only suppress his scent but his instincts as well and now 2 years of suppression with no breaks was coming to bite him in the ass. Hard. A quick Google search stated he’d have a day or two of pre-heat but that was for regular cycles.
A knock sounded on the bathroom door, jolting Jongho out of his spiral, and he yelped in pain as his knee smashed into the sink, dropping the empty bottle to the floor.
“Jongho?” Seonghwa. Of course, it was Seonghwa. Group mom to the rescue he supposed.
“I’m fine hyung. Got lost in my head for a moment there.” He winced as he bent down and quickly collected the bottle. He hid it at the back of the sink cabinet before giving himself a quick spray down with his scent spray, an Oak and Lemon scent that he’d originally intended to use to cover the lingering scent of his first heat but had stuck with after his group mates commented on the nice smell when he saw them next.
Jongho opened the door and smiled at Seonghwa, hoping none of his anxiety showed on his face.
“What’s up hyung? Do we need to go?” He asked but Seonghwa just frowned and reached out to cup Jonghos cheek.
“Ah… not just yet. Are you sure you’re ok?” Jongho mentally cursed his eldest hyung's perceptive nature when it came to his pack mates.
“Yeah… just a little stressed- But we all are, so I’ll get over it! Can’t be down both of our best-looking members for this comeback after all.”
“YAH!”
Despite the volume, Seonghwa finally had a smile on his face and Jongho took advantage of Seonghwa’s playful anger at being teased to run back to his room, dodging all of his other hyungs in the halls and locking his bedroom door tight.
The grin that had overtaken his face at teasing a hyung quickly dropped when a niggling voice in the back of his mind began to whisper about building a nest. He’d been chased by his alpha so where was his nest, Why didn’t he have a nest and why was his den so empty of his Alphas scents?
He struggled to muffle a pained whimper and slumped to the floor with his back against the door, his hands flying up to tug at his hair. All his previous elation was gone, leaving a hollowed-out coldness in its wake.
“Shut up, Shut up, Shut up. We are a Beta. Not an omega. We don’t need an Alpha like that.”
His only response was a call from Hongjoong that it was time to leave and a sinking feeling in his chest.
The interview had been going so well. Their answers were a perfect mix of personality and PR, jokes flowing between them like absolutely nothing was wrong. Until the interviewer began targeting Jongho. She’d begun with soft questions, asking about who his favourite hyung was (None of them. *Cough* Mingi *Cough*), who treated him the best (All of them in their own ways), who had the nicest scent (Yeosang because he didn’t spread his scent around all the time).
And then they started getting a bit more personal. Asking about his scent, his secondary dynamic and finally,
“So, how does being labeled an Alpha when you’re really just a Beta affect you?”
“It… Doesn’t?”
“So you feel completely comfortable lying to people about your dynamic? That doesn’t bother you at all?”
Jongho blinked at the sharp tone and the sudden change of direction. His chest ached and he felt lost as all the attention in the room focused on him. That line of questioning was hitting a little too close to home.
“I have never lied about my dynamic.”
‘But you have.’ The interviewer frowned and clicked her tongue.
The laughter that had previously echoed around the room was long gone, replaced by stone silence. Jongho could feel the anger of his hyungs around him rising as she persisted with her questioning.
“Your hyungs have said previously that you’re ‘the most alpha’ of them and you didn’t deny it.”
“That was a joke!” Jongho tried to defend himself and his pack as soft growls began to come from the group behind him.
“So dynamics are a joke to you?
“What?! No, of course not!”
“But you keep lying about your dynamic, misleading fans who adore an all alpha pack.”
“I haven’t lied to our fans!”
‘You have. You do every day. You lie to more than just your fans. You lie to your Alphas as well.’
“You let them think you’re the wrong dynamic! How is that not lying to the-”
‘She’s right you know.’
“ENOUGH!” Jongho’s head whipped around to look at who had cut her off. Hongjoong was pissed. Shit. He was so pissed. Jongho had never seen him so angry. Not even when someone had tried to make a pass at Seonghwa, mistaking him for an omega and thinking him an easy target.
His head Alpha’s chest was heaving and each deep breath was laced with a harsh growl. His coffee scent was burnt and bitter and so thick in the air Jongho could hear their staff coughing. The interviewer clearly left her common sense at home because she whipped around to yell at Hongjoong.
“How dare you? I could ruin y-”
She never got to finish her sentence before she was screaming with fear and scrambling back from them. Hongjoong lunged for her, eyes a deep gold of a pissed-off Alpha, chair flying behind him with such force it embedded itself in the wall.
San and Yunho leapt up, surging after Hongjoong and trying to grab him. Both yelled for the staff to move back and get the interviewer out of there. Yunho managed to get in front and pressed right up against Hongjoong's chest, the force of them colliding and winding the taller of the two but managing to stop their leader from reaching his target.
San took advantage of the collision to get behind the two of them, gripping Hongjoong from the back as Yunho held from the front. Yeosang and Wooyoung jumped up to support YunSan when it was clear even their two strongest members were struggling to hold back their head Alpha, who was howling and snarling with unrestrained rage.
Jongho could almost see the demon fans claimed Hongjoong could be. This wasn’t just normal anger, this was a head Alpha defending his pack from a threat. He’d have killed the woman if he’d gotten to her without hesitation or remorse.
All four members hauled Hongjoong to the far corner, attempting to soothe and comfort him with their scents as the interviewer screamed about how they were all savages and all Alpha packs didn't work.
Among all the chaos, Seonghwa had dropped to care for Mingi, who had curled up into a ball on the floor when the commotion began, his anxiety spiking and sending him into an attack that left him breathless and shaking.
Jongho hadn’t moved, he hadn’t dared move. It had all happened so fast, one moment they were having fun and the next he’d been verbally attacked and his pack thrown into chaos. He tried to will his body to move, to check on Mingi, to lend his strength to keeping Hongjoong back, to head to the staff who were scattered around the room and offer apologies for what they had witnessed.
Instead, he just stood there, frozen, the angry scents of his pack so thick you could cut them with a knife. The voices in his head got louder and louder and louder until all he could hear was the sickly croon.
Lier
Manipulator
Fraud
Fake
She’s right though.
We lied. We’ve been lying all along. They’ll hate us when they find out, all of them. Maybe they’ll drive us away, abandon us… Maybe they’ll attack us like they did that Beta.
We’d deserve it.
So Jongho did something he’d never normally do.
He cried.
Anger
Rage
Red
Blood
Enemy
Threat
Threat
Kill
Destroy
Wait
Fear
Not Enemy Fear
Tears
Tears?
Crying
Loud crying
Pup Crying
Pup
Pup?
Not pup
Not pup
Beta
Beta crying
Beta… smells wrong
Smells different
Not Beta
Not Beta?
Omega?
Omega
Omega crying
Omega hurt?
Not hurt
Distressed
Vulnerable
Omega Unsafe
Need Nest
Need Den
Need to Protect
Protect
Protect
Protect, Protect, Protect
Pack Omega
Our Omega