Chapter Text
“Rut?”
“Yep,” he says, popping the ‘p.’ “I’m exhausted. I begged him to let me stay home today too, but since I already missed a whole week, it wasn’t really an option.”
Though his ears act on their own accord, Felix keeps his eyes on his paper. Class is almost over, and if he doesn’t finish this, it becomes added homework.
‘What is your Prae-Alpha’s favorite meal, and why do you think it appeals to them?’
That’s easy.
‘Steak (medium well) with roasted potatoes and some sort of sautéed vegetable,’ Felix writes. ‘My prae likes meals that are simple but fulfilling, and he always says that he prefers homemade food to anything that can be bought from a store or restaurant.’
Felix thinks for a second before quickly adding, ‘I think he just likes seeing the effort put into the meal because it makes him feel extra cared for.’
“Are you sore?”
“Yeah… That’s honestly the worst part.”
“Not the aggression? In rut, my prae will growl at me if I even try to leave to use the bathroom.”
‘Describe a dish that would soothe your Prae-Alpha after a hard day at work.’
‘Beef stew with crusty bread,’ Felix writes right away. ‘The warmth and rich flavors are comforting and would help him unwind. I haven’t tried making it with fresh herbs yet, but I think that would be a great additional touch.’
He can already picture Chan’s smile as he tells him that he made stew with fresh herbs. Even if it turned out bad somehow, Chan would still appreciate the effort and be proud of him for trying something new.
“Are you kidding me? The worst part is definitely the biting! My prae gets so possessive, she ends up biting me on practically every knot.”
“Oh, is that why you have a hundred claim marks all over your neck?”
They all laugh.
‘What would you serve to impress your Prae-Alpha’s colleagues?’
Felix taps his pencil on the desk as he thinks. This is hard. He’s only gotten to meet Chan’s colleagues on a couple of occasions, but they’re all very… cold? Serious? They’re certainly not an easy-to-impress crowd, even if Chan is the boss of the office. The meal would need to be elegant and nice, but nothing too fancy because Chan would hate anything pretentious.
“Felix!” Jisung’s voice rings out.
Felix looks up at the table in front of his, where the group of talking omegas sits.
Waving him over, Jisung momentarily turns back to the group. “Look, enough about how much alphas in rut suck—Felix’s prae hasn’t touched him once.”
“At all?” One omega gawks.
With a deep breath, Felix places his pencil down and pushes his chair back to stand up. They look him up and down as he awkwardly heads over, probably wondering what’s wrong with him for his prae to not be interested.
“You haven’t mated?”
Felix shakes his head. “We’re waiting until marriage.”
The omegas share looks.
“And you haven’t been claimed…?”
The question is a formality; it’s obvious by his scent that he’s unclaimed. Uncomfortably glancing between them, Felix shakes his head again before quietly stating the obvious truth, “Not yet.”
“So, your tutela wasn’t that long ago, then, right?”
“Almost six years, actually…” Felix answers.
They really gawk at him now.
“But why? You’re pretty!”
Felix shrugs. “He’s just old-fashioned that way, I guess.”
“That’s not all, either,” Jisung interjects. “His prae buys him anything he wants, cooks for him all the time, literally spoils him in every way you can imagine.”
“He cooks for you?”
“Sometimes,” Felix admits.
“That’s so nice… I just wish mine would just let me order a pizza every once in a while. It’s such a hassle cooking dinner every single night, especially on school nights.”
“Tell me about it,” another omega grumbles. “Spend an hour or two slaving over the stove, eat, take his knot, take a shower, and then I barely have any free time before bed.”
“The life of an omega,” someone jokes.
A girl omega turns to Felix. “Seriously, you’re really lucky.”
Felix shrugs. He’s never thought about it much. Is he really lucky, or are they just unlucky? It’s subjective, isn’t it?
“What about punishments?” Someone asks. “Surely, he still punishes you, right?”
Felix thinks for a moment. It’s been a while since he just got into any sort of trouble. “He usually just— It’s like this.” He crosses his arms and sighs dramatically. “‘Felix, you know better than this. When you don’t listen, it makes things harder on the both of us.’”
It’s quiet.
“Yeah, you’re lucky, Felix.”
Felix hooks his thumbs into the straps of his backpack. The warm light of the sun shines down on his face. It’s still in the earlier days of September, and the summer weather hasn’t waned much yet. That’s good, though—when the time for him and Chan to get married rolls around, the weather should be nice and cool without being cold. Fall is probably the nicest time of year to be newlyweds.
The quiet sounds of their footsteps on the sidewalk persist. Felix turns his head to look over at his companion, Jisung. A few years ago, he started attending the school, and they hit it off pretty quickly.
It goes without saying that Jisung has his faults, though.
“I didn’t appreciate you singling me out like that,” Felix says, watching Jisung’s expression carefully. “I don’t really want everyone to know the details of my relationship.”
“Sorry, but you’re really lucky,” Jisung says, laughing a little. “You should honestly be bragging about how nice your prae is.”
“Your prae’s nice too, isn’t he?” Felix answers. He can’t recall Jisung ever complaining about anything serious between them.
“Yeah, Minho’s nice,” Jisung explains, “but… you know, I was late to entering a tutela, so it’s different for us.”
Felix hums. “I don’t think entering a tutela early is really that important. I mean, look at me and Chan—he still hasn’t mated or claimed me yet.”
“I don’t mean those things,” Jisung says, shaking his head in dismissal. It’s easier for him to say that because he has a bite on his neck. “I mean the bond, the experience of being in a Tutela Omega arrangement—those years are special.”
Felix looks back at the street in front of him. Being in a tutela for six years doesn’t feel that special. Then again, things were very different between him and Chan those first couple of years, but he was still a kid then. Of course it was different.
“I just wish we had more time together before getting married,” Jisung finishes.
“When are you getting married?” Felix asks, quickly looking back at his friend.
“We’re not completely sure yet, but hopefully in the spring.”
“You just wanna be in the next graduation,” Felix laughs.
“Well, yeah, the next six months are gonna suck without you there,” Jisung jokes.
Felix shakes his head. “You have plenty of friends.”
Jisung drifts a little closer, playfully bumping his shoulder into Felix’s own. “Not my best friend.”
Laughing, Felix rolls his eyes. “I’m not your best friend.”
“You are!”
“Uh-huh, and what will Minho say about that, hmm?” Felix teases.
“He would say, ‘Oh! Once we get married, we should go on double dates, then.’”
Felix laughs. “What’s after that? We’re gonna plan to have our firstborns at the same time, so they can be friends?”
“See, you get it!”
They laugh, but Felix suddenly stops. “Hey, I’ll see you in the morning, okay?”
Jisung gives him a thumbs up and keeps walking.
Felix turns down his street. Chan always parks in the garage, so Felix can never tell if he’ll be home or not until he gets inside, but that hasn’t stopped him from trying to guess every day. The vibe of the house today is very… Chan-ful, Felix thinks. He digs into the pocket of his school uniform, pulling out his key. The key fits into the lock, and with a twist and a click, Felix is home.
It’s silent; the television off, the phone on the wall quiet, no obvious sign of Chan—yet.
Felix closes the door behind him and carefully drops his bag onto the floor before stepping farther into the living room. He turns his head to eye the closed door of Chan’s study—the light shows through the crack underneath. “Chan?”
No sound comes from the other side, so Felix comes closer. He raises his fist to knock, but before his knuckles can make contact with the cool wood, the door opens.
Unsurprisingly, Chan’s still in his work clothes, though his sleeves are rolled up and his tie slightly loosened. At the sight of Felix, a small smile dances on his lips. “You’re home.”
“I am,” Felix replies, eyes glued to Chan’s own. “I was going to—” He lifts his hand and makes a knocking gesture.
“You don’t need to knock,” Chan says, laughing a little.
“I know, but if you’re working, I don’t want to just barge in.”
Chan reaches up to affectionately smooth his hand over the top of Felix’s head. It’s funny; it reminds Felix of a time when he used to be noticeably shorter than Chan. “Did you have a good day at school?”
“Yeah,” Felix answers before second-guessing himself. “Well, I mean, same as usual.”
Chan hums quietly. “Are you hungry?”
Felix doesn’t answer right away. Is he hungry? He doesn’t feel hungry, but it has been a while since lunch, so maybe—
“Come on,” Chan says easily, stepping around him.
Felix follows him to the kitchen. If Chan thinks he should eat something, then he probably should. Chan is usually right about these kinds of things.
“Sit,” Chan says, gesturing with his head to the table.
Felix ignores it, trailing behind Chan instead. There’s a brown paper bag sitting on the counter, and Chan stops to reach inside. Watching him in curiosity, Felix stops too. He leans onto the counter, elbows holding him up, and chin resting in his palm.
Chan turns to him, a small pastry box in hand. Wordlessly, he slides it over to Felix.
Felix peers down at the box. It’s from the bakery. Whenever they’re out together on the weekends, and they pass by, Felix always begs to go inside and get something. Sometimes, Chan says yes.
Excited, Felix quickly opens the box to reveal a cheese danish, one of his favorites. Looking up at Chan, he can’t control the grin from spreading across his face.
“You’ve been good lately,” Chan explains away. Bashfully, his eyes drop down to the danish to avoid Felix’s face.
“This is really sweet, Chan. Thank you.” Felix glances down at the danish. “Do you want some?”
Chan shakes his head dismissively. “No, it’s for you, little one.”
Now it’s Felix’s turn to keep his eyes down. That name always makes him blush. He likes it, but it does make him feel a little funny on the inside. Fortunately, Chan’s never seemed to notice that.
Felix takes a big, eager bite of the cheese danish. As he chews, he notices Chan looking at him again, watching. That’s the type of person he is; Chan doesn’t just want to hear that someone enjoys something, he wants to see it.
Felix dramatically moans around the pastry. It’s silly, but it makes Chan chuckle a bit in amusement.
“Can I ask you something?” Felix asks after a few quiet seconds.
“Of course,” Chan answers as expected.
“Why haven’t we mated yet?” Felix asks bluntly.
For several seconds, Chan doesn’t answer.
“We’ve talked about this,” Chan says quietly, and it’s true; they’ve discussed this many, many times over the past couple of years.
“Tell me again,” Felix urges before taking another bite of his danish.
“I think it’s best to wait until we get married,” Chan explains, “so I know you’re mature enough for it.”
“You don’t think I’m mature?” Felix asks, though his mouth is still full of pastry. “I’m an adult.”
“You may be an adult, but there’s a reason why omegas can’t get married until they turn twenty,” Chan answers flawlessly. “Why are you asking about this when we’re already so close to getting engaged?”
“Because we’re so close,” Felix explains. “How would it hurt to mate, what, a few weeks early?”
“Felix, you don’t even understand what you’re asking for,” Chan says with a bothered exhale. “We’re waiting until we get married. That’s it.”
“What do I not understand?” Felix asks anyway. “You just have to knot me.”
Chan shakes his head. “I don’t want to talk about it like this.”
“Chan, I’m the only one who hasn’t been mated or claimed yet,” Felix whines. “Even omegas younger than me have gotten both.”
“I don’t want to rush it,” Chan explains. “I’m waiting because I care about you. It’s not good for omegas to be mated or claimed too early, and any alpha who does that is in the wrong.”
“Yeah, well, what about omegas who get mated or claimed too late?” Felix grumbles, rolling his eyes.
“How is the day we get married too late?” Chan returns. “If I don’t have you mated and claimed within an hour of getting married, then you can complain.”
Felix can't help laughing a little.
“I’ll claim you before we get married, I promise,” Chan says, serious again. He steps closer to Felix. “I’m just waiting for the right time. I want it to be special.”
Before Felix can say anything in response, Chan’s hand touches his back and soothingly runs up and down it.
“I love you, Felix, you know that,” Chan continues, voice soft and gentle. “I’m not shorting you… I just don’t want to hurt you by doing something you’re not completely ready for.”
Felix nods. He doesn’t understand how mating or claiming now could hurt him, but he trusts Chan. That’s all he can do.
With him still bent over the counter, Chan leans down to kiss the top of his head. Felix looks up at him, and then Chan gently takes hold of his chin and slowly leans in closer.
Closer, closer—until he presses a soft peck just to the corner of Felix’s lips.
Dressed in his pajamas, Felix sits on the rug before the couch. The air from the hair dryer is warm—not hot—and Chan’s fingers run through his hair just right. Felix lets his eyes naturally close as the tiredness from his day sets in. Chan’s ministrations continue until Felix feels himself starting to reach the point of drifting off.
“Alright,” Chan says from behind him, turning the hair dryer off. “All done.”
Slowly, Felix turns to look at him.
Smiling, Chan carefully runs his fingers through Felix’s hair once more before pulling away. He pats the place on the couch next to him. “Come sit up here while I put this away.”
Instead, Felix leans back against the couch, between Chan’s legs. “I’m too tired.”
“Do I need to carry you up to bed?” Chan teases.
Suddenly recalling what his classmates said to him earlier, Felix blinks. “Chan, am I spoiled?”
“Who said that to you?” Chan asks first. “You’re not spoiled. I just like taking care of you because I love you. You’re my omega.”
Being Chan’s omega, Felix’s heart swells with pride.
Chan’s fingers massage his scalp again. “If someone at school called you spoiled because I take care of you, then they’re probably just jealous that their Prae-Alpha doesn’t do the same for them. You don’t need to waste your time worrying about things like that, alright?”
Felix hums.
Chan retracts his hand. “Now come up here.”
Overdramatically slow, Felix rises from the floor to sit on the couch. He watches as Chan stands and takes the hair dryer back to the bathroom.
With Chan out of sight, Felix shifts on the couch to get more comfortable. He pulls his legs up and crosses them, then, looking down at where Chan was just sitting, pauses. His body acts on its own, and he scoots just a little bit to the left to be partially in that space.
When Chan comes back, he doesn’t seem to pay Felix’s placement any mind and sits again. Felix can tell it’s a bit cramped for him, squished between him and the arm, but Chan doesn’t say anything. Looking straight ahead at the television, he moves his right arm to rest on the back of the couch behind Felix. Naturally, Felix leans into the space that’s inadvertently been opened up to him. They stare at the television together as Chan absentmindedly flips through the channels, notably using his free left hand rather than his preoccupied right.
After a few minutes, Chan breaks the silence between them. “Are you hungry?”
“Are you?” Felix asks, turning his head to look at Chan’s face.
“I asked you,” Chan says.
“Should I make dinner tonight?” Felix asks instead of answering. “You almost always do it.”
“Aren’t you tired?” Chan teases. “It’s no big deal. I’ll do it.”
“You’ve been working all day,” Felix points out. “You must be tired too.”
Chan smiles. “I’m fine. Like I said earlier, I like taking care of you… So just let me, okay?”
Felix automatically starts nodding. “Okay.”
“It’s starting to get late,” Chan says. “I’ll go ahead and get started. Do you have any homework or anything to study for?”
Felix sighs at the reminder. “Yeah…”
“Come on,” Chan encourages, uncomfortably sliding out between Felix and the arm of the couch. “Work on it while I’m cooking.”
Begrudgingly, Felix goes to fish his homework assignment out of his backpack, which Chan forces him to take to his bedroom. When he returns downstairs with his paper and colored pencils, Chan is already chopping freshly washed vegetables. How can Chan be faster and more efficient than him when half of what he does at school is related to cooking? It would be enviable if it were anyone else.
Felix sits down at the table with his things. Looking down at his paper to read the instructions, he has to draw out a design for a baby’s nursery. Felix internally groans. He’s not good at these kinds of assignments.
Chan’s house was already pretty nicely decorated when he moved in almost six years ago, minus his bedroom, which has evolved somewhat over the years. In the time they’ve lived together, Felix has changed very little about the house’s decor despite Chan permitting him to change, remove or add anything as he sees fit. He likes the house the way it is currently—it feels like home.
Then again, before they have a baby, Chan wants to move into a bigger house. So, not only will Felix have to furnish and decorate a nursery from nothing, but an entire house. He knows Chan would help him, but he’s an omega, and he should be able to handle it on his own. With their marriage right around the corner, Felix figures he should probably try to start thinking about it now.
He turns the paper horizontally so that he has more room to draw. A crib would be a good start, he supposes. Selecting a tan colored pencil, he draws a wooden crib.
Now what?
Felix thinks. What do babies need? Sleep, check. Diapers.
He draws a changing table, and remembering something they were taught about in class, makes it a dresser for added storage.
Babies also need color, so he adds a few works of art on the wall and a bright green rug. It sort of resembles grass, but hopefully his teacher understands his vision.
He needs a rocking chair to help rock the baby asleep… He makes it yellow and immediately regrets it, but what can be done about it now?
He really only has three pieces of furniture, so it looks very bare-bones. He mulls it over for all of sixty seconds before calling Chan over to help.
Chan sits beside him at the table and scoots close enough that their legs touch. Felix’s heart beats a little faster at the contact for some reason, but he tries to stay focused.
“I’m making a nursery,” he explains, “but it looks really bland and sad, and I don’t know what else I need.”
“It looks good,” Chan affirms first. He stares down at the picture for a few seconds, eyes scanning as he considers it. “You need to have a side table or nightstand next to the chair, so we have a place to put things down, like bottles or whatever else.”
Felix nods. He pulls out a pastel green colored pencil, so at least something in this room matches. As he begins drawing a side table, Chan laughs.
“It’s very green.”
“I’m trying to be sex neutral,” Felix explains. “If I show too much emphasis on a sex preference, I’ll get points taken off.”
“Really?” Chan asks, tilting his head. “Why?”
Felix pauses. “Well, since alphas carry on the family line, there’s a lot of pressure to birth at least one alpha per family… but as an omega, we’re meant to be happy to have any baby and be grateful to our alpha for getting us pregnant in the first place... It just looks really bad if an omega is ungrateful.”
Chan hums. He looks like he wants to say something, but no words come. He taps at Felix’s paper. “Finish.”
As told, Felix finishes drawing the nightstand.
“It would be good to add a footstool,” Chan says, “by the chair.”
Felix begins drawing it. “You’re good at this.”
“That’s because I already have a baby to take care of,” Chan jokes, placing his hand on Felix’s back.
Felix feels his face heat up. “I’m not a baby, Chan. I’m almost twenty.”
“You are a baby,” Chan says with a laugh as he stands up to tend to his cooking. “You’ll always be my baby.”
“You’re not listening to me!” The male alpha onscreen exclaims. “I’m trying to protect you! Can’t you see that?”
The female omega shakes her head frantically. “Protecting me? By controlling me? That’s not love!”
The omega turns to storm off, but the alpha hurriedly grabs her by the wrist and roughly pulls her back. The omega tries to pull her arm free, but the alpha then pushes her to the wall, pinning her in place.
“Stop fighting me,” the alpha says, firm and decisive as alphas often are. “I do love you, and this is for your own good.”
“You’re not giving me a choice,” the omega says, her voice shaky.
The alpha’s expression softens, and he leans in, seeking closer contact. “I need you to trust me. Tell me you trust me.”
The omega takes pause. Looking into the alpha’s sincere eyes, she softens as well. “Okay,” she says just above a whisper. “I trust you.”
The alpha smiles. “See? That wasn’t so hard.”
“Alphas shouldn’t do that,” Chan says suddenly, looking over at Felix.
“Do what?” Felix asks.
Chan’s thumb strokes Felix’s ankle where his legs lay in his lap. “He’s too aggressive. It’s not romantic, it’s controlling.”
“Controlling?” Felix questions. “He was just trying to get her to see his side.”
“Forcing someone to submit doesn’t mean they understand you,” Chan explains. “That’s not real love.”
“But, look.” Felix points at the screen where the characters are now lovingly gazing into each other’s eyes. “It worked out in the end. Isn’t that what matters?”
“No,” Chan says firmly, just like the alpha in the movie. “It’s framed as romantic, but it’s really not. Don’t let movies make you think things like this are okay.”
Felix opens his mouth to question him further, but Chan’s expression makes him close his mouth again. Chan isn’t angry, but Felix knows when he’s serious about something.
Apparently content, Chan affectionately pats Felix’s ankle before returning his attention to the television. Felix’s eyes linger on him, though.
Chan always looks good—whether it’s first thing in the morning, he got caught in the rain, or he’s stressed and exhausted from work. Felix considers himself fortunate in that regard.
But now, in the dim light of the living room, Chan looks different.
Felix can't place what’s different about Chan tonight—if anything at all. With his staring, there’s no way Chan isn’t just pretending not to notice, but it doesn’t deter Felix in the slightest. Unable to pull his eyes away, he feels that weird feeling in his stomach again. Looking down at Chan’s lips, Felix thinks back on the night of their first kiss.
It was his eighteenth birthday, when he officially became an adult in the eyes of the law—not that it really meant much as an omega. Like every birthday, Chan had come home with a cake for him. Felix always thought it was unnecessary with how close their birthdays are, but Chan never asked for his opinion; every year, Felix got a cake.
He had been standing in front of it, getting ready to blow out the lit candles, and Chan was beside him, a gentle but firm hand on his lower back. Felix leaned forward and blew out the candles. Immediately after, he looked over at Chan. The next thing he knew, there was contact, and Chan was looking down bashfully, mumbling something about needing to cut the cake. It was so fast that Felix hadn’t even had time to completely comprehend the peck. He stood there, mind blank and cheeks burning hot, as Chan focused on cutting two slices from the cake. It was hard to sleep that night, wishes of going back in time to enjoy it fully swarming in his head.
They hadn’t kissed again for a long time after that. Felix was unsure if Chan was waiting for him to make a move or if he just simply regretted kissing him. Either way, Felix himself was too nervous to say or do anything about it.
Their second kiss was just a few months ago, and it wasn’t a quick peck that ended before Felix could reciprocate in any way. Chan had leaned in slowly and pressed his lips to Felix’s gently. Now that he really got to feel them, Chan’s lips were softer than Felix thought they would be. Eager to not let the chance slip away like last time, Felix reacted, kissing him back eagerly, or trying to, with his lack of experience. Chan didn’t pull away immediately, so he parted his lips just slightly. This kiss deepened, and Felix’s hands naturally clung onto Chan’s shirt. When Chan broke the kiss before it could cross any lines, Felix didn’t let go. He remembers Chan’s expression—eyes on him, cheeks flushed, and lips a little redder—as he gently pried Felix’s hands from his shirt. He mumbled something irrelevant that Felix has now forgotten.
Since then, they’ve shared occasional soft pecks, but nothing more.
Looking at him now, Felix wants another kiss—a real one.
Chan finally looks over at him again. Felix doesn’t say anything, and neither does Chan. Instead, Chan strokes his shin in his lap and looks back at the television. Felix holds back his disappointed sigh. With Chan still comfortingly rubbing his leg, he looks back at the television too.
Felix wakes up. Disoriented from sleep, he can’t remember when he dozed off or tell how late into the night it is. He quickly relaxes, though, when he realizes that it’s just Chan carrying him out of the living room and upstairs to bed. Emboldened by his sleepiness, Felix snuggles into Chan and nuzzles into the scent gland on his neck. As Felix inhales the familiar, green scent of tea with fresh mint and lemon, Chan’s shoulders jump a little due to the ticklishness. Felix closes his eyes again, and much too soon, they’ve arrived at his bedroom upstairs. Chan carefully lowers him onto the bed and lifts the covers to tuck Felix into bed, a near nightly occurrence for them.
As Chan watches him settle in, Felix reaches for his arm. “Stay for a bit?”
Looking down at him with soft eyes, Chan smiles a little. “Okay.” He sits at the edge of the bed.
Felix turns onto his side to comfortably keep watching him. “Sometimes… I wonder what it’s gonna be like when we’re… married,” he starts, choosing his words carefully. “You know, when we start… living together as a couple.”
“I think it’ll be even better,” Chan says quietly. “When you’re completely mine, when we get married… everything will fall into place.”
For a few seconds, Felix lets his words sit in the air, soaking into his mind.
“Do you ever think about… About how things might be different if we weren’t so…” Felix trails off, unsure of how he wants to say it.
“So…?” Chan questions.
Felix swallows. “If we weren’t so… tied up in this. If we weren’t so close, like, you know, maybe… we wouldn’t be like this. So… connected. So good with each other.”
Chan seems to consider his words before he finally speaks. “We’re good with each other because we love each other, Felix. That’s all it is. I love you, and you love me. Some couples aren’t as lucky as we are with that, and that’s why the transition can be hard sometimes… But for us, you have nothing to worry about. The changes for us will be small, like where you sleep at night.”
Felix hums in acknowledgment.
Chan reaches up to pet his head. “You don’t need to stress about anything right now. Graduation is so close, and then we’ll start working towards getting married. This is supposed to be a happy time, so just trust me to handle everything, okay?”
Felix nods. “I trust you.”
“I know,” Chan says before standing up. “It’s getting late now, Lix.”
A moment passes of Chan looking at Felix and Felix looking back.
Chan bends down. Felix assumes he’ll kiss him on the forehead as he often does, but instead Chan’s lips touch his own. It’s chaste, loving, sweet. When Chan pulls away, instead of straightening back up, he places a peck on Felix’s lips as if unable to help himself.
“Goodnight,” Chan says as he slowly backs away toward the door.
Felix looks down at the covers around himself. “Goodnight, Chan.”
Sitting at the table eating his breakfast, Felix watches Chan in the kitchen. He’s already dressed in his usual work clothes. Maybe it’s only because it’s what Felix sees him wearing most often, but they look good on him. Not just good in the way that Chan always looks good, but good in the way that they suit him. Felix can’t imagine him in anything else on a Friday morning.
Chan turns around. In his hands is Felix’s lunch box—a small, rectangular thing in his favorite shade of blue. Felix watches as Chan places it on the table in front of him. “Don’t forget this.”
Felix rolls his eyes. He forgot his lunch at home one time, like two years ago. “I won’t.”
“It’s pretty chilly outside. Should I drive you to school?” Chan asks.
Felix shakes his head. “I’ll just walk with Jisung.”
“If he’s freezing, then you have to too?” Chan teases.
Felix shrugs. “That’s friendship.”
“You need to get going soon, then,” Chan reminds.
Felix nods, taking the final bite of his breakfast. Chan always scolds him if he doesn’t eat enough in the mornings; ‘breakfast is the most important meal of the day,’ but Felix doesn’t remember exactly why that is.
Once he’s done, he puts the lunch box into his backpack and gets ready to leave.
“Chan, I’m going,” Felix calls into the direction of the kitchen, where Chan is cleaning up.
“Wait, you forgot something,” Chan says.
Felix’s brows furrow as he looks back at the table. What could he have forgotten?
Then all of a sudden, Chan wraps his arms around him. So, that’s what he forgot.
Laughing, Felix turns around to hug Chan back properly.
“Be careful,” Chan says, like every morning, as he strokes Felix’s back.
“Uh-huh,” Felix says. “I will.”
Felix tries to pull away to leave, but Chan won’t let him go. Though he wants to feign annoyance, Felix can’t help giggling. It’s cute when Chan is silly like this.
“Alright, alright!” Felix laughs. “I’ll see you later!”
Chan lets go, at last.
“Have a good day,” Chan says, grinning at him.
“You too…” Felix says, stepping away. Then under his breath, he adds, “Even though you don’t deserve it after all that.”
“What was that?” Chan teases.
“Nothing!” Felix laughs, hurrying to leave the house.
Now outside, it is noticeably cooler, as Chan said it would be. It’s a good thing he’s graduating next week, he thinks. It doesn’t take long to reach the end of the street where he usually meets up with Jisung. By the time Felix arrives, Jisung is already standing there waiting for him.
“There you are!” Jisung exclaims. “What’s with you? Why are you all blushy?”
“Huh?” Felix asks, pressing his hands to his cheeks. They are warm. “Oh, it’s nothing.”
Felix usually sits alone with Jisung for lunch, but today, Jisung talked him into sitting with the same group of omegas from yesterday. Though he’s still a little embarrassed from yesterday, he figures he only has a few days of school left, so he may as well do things out of his comfort zone. That’s supposed to be good for the psyche or something.
Surrounded by other omegas, Felix quietly removes the top from his lunch box. Chan tends to go all out for his lunches when he has the time, and while Felix is eager to return the favor once he no longer has to attend school, it certainly won’t help the spoiled accusations today.
Inside his lunch box is a relatively typical lunch—rice, a main dish, and a couple veggie side dishes. That on its own would be perfectly fine… but Chan really loves him. The entire lunch is littered with colorful decorations featuring hearts and cute little smiling bears. Even some of the veggies didn’t manage to escape unscathed, cut into hearts and flowers. He appreciates it, and under normal circumstances, may even be touched by such an overt display, but today…
Felix slowly lifts his eyes to subtly scan the faces of his peers. All of them seem preoccupied with conversation or their own lunch, minus Jisung, who sits beside him, smirking. Felix gives him a short but stern warning look to not say anything about his lunch, then picks up his chopsticks and digs in.
Usually when Felix is due for his quarterly round of heat suppressants, Chan goes to pick up the prescription by himself. He’s never asked Felix to accompany him, so Felix never thought much of it.
But this morning when Chan told him that he was going to be gone for an hour or two to see to it instead of spending the whole Saturday with him, Felix asked to come along. They’re about to be married, so why can’t he come? Chan really didn’t want to bring him, repeatedly asking if he was sure, but Felix insisted upon going.
Felix now realizes that he was not nearly as sure as he thought.
For starters, the pharmacy that he gets his prescription from apparently isn’t the one a few blocks away from their house—it’s the one in the part of the city where Felix grew up, also known as the ‘bad’ part of town. According to Chan, he can change his pharmacy once they get married, so that’s something, at least. Beyond that, parking in this part of the city is horrible, so Chan had to park a good walk away from the pharmacy.
As ashamed as Felix is to admit it to even himself, seeing where he grew up for the first time since he left isn’t great. It’s sad. It’s the complete opposite of where he lives now with Chan. It’s dirty, grey, and cold in that awful, impersonal sort of way. In his memories, it was nicer, friendlier, less dull and depressing. He forces himself to not wonder about his mother, or sisters, or his cousin.
Chan holds his hand as they walk to the pharmacy, not letting him drift too far away. Logically, he gets it; his unclaimed omega in a seedy part of town won't exactly spark joy in most alphas, but somehow Felix feels himself taking offense at the insinuation. He keeps it to himself, though.
On the sidewalk, they pass by a couple of other omegas, both wearing the same uniform. Felix didn’t notice it right away, but once he did, he glanced over at Chan with unease. Why are the omegas wearing the same strange uniform? More importantly, why do they look terrible? Visibly malnourished or injured, exhausted, and broken down in spirit, with scents that are soured or far too faint. Chan won’t meet his eyes.
Then, Felix sees it.
An omega workhouse—for the ‘benefit’ of impoverished and unmarriageable omegas, but a place most omegas would do anything to avoid. Sometimes, alphas send their omegas to one to work off their own personal debt.
The building is large and old, foreboding enough to bring goosebumps to Felix’s skin. It’s surrounded by a high barbed wire fence like a prison yard. Through it, he can see omegas working in the yard. Downtrodden and tired, their movements are slow, and an alpha overseer aggressively barks orders at them.
How did he forget about this? How could he? He used to walk past this building on a daily basis. His own mother used to live and work here when he was growing up? What happened to her? Is she—
With his hand, Chan shields his eyes from the building as they pass. “I’m sorry,” he says quietly, in shame. “I shouldn’t have brought you here.”
Does Chan know? Was it in his profile? Did Chan see it before he selected him?
Felix’s body doesn’t cooperate to ask any of the questions.
“I should’ve known better,” Chan continues as they keep walking. “I didn’t think. I’m so sorry, Felix.”
Felix turns his head to look at Chan’s face on the other side of him. “It’s okay,” he says, keeping his voice firm and sure. “I know you didn’t mean for me to… see that.”
With his arm still around Felix, Chan quickly nods, visibly relieved by Felix’s words. “You’re not like them. That’ll never be you.”
But it could have been. If it weren’t for a good alpha—for Chan—it could’ve been him. Maybe everyone is right. If he weren’t so damn lucky, it would be him there behind that fence.
Felix grew up here. How did he get to move to the wealthy part of town and live with Chan, who adores him, while those omegas ended up in there? Why was he chosen to have such a different life, to be treated so well? Chan would never hurt him or let him starve, and he would definitely take him to the hospital if his scent was anywhere near so faint.
Shaken up, Felix naturally leans further into Chan—not only his solace but his savior.