Chapter Text
It wasn’t anyone’s fault, really.
Renjun just happened to be in the same room in pre-heat the same time an alpha went into rut.
When a teacher finally discovered them, the alpha had a hand gripped onto Renjun’s wrists behind his back, holding him down on a student’s desk, while the other hand worked frantically on his own belt.
When they were brought into the principal’s office after coming back to their senses, only Renjun was accused of seducing the alpha.
When they had both tried explain it was an accident and negligence of their medication, only Renjun was criticized for not properly managing his heat schedule.
When the alpha was let go without so much a slap on the wrist, only Renjun was forced to stayed behind and had his mother called in.
“Why are you blaming everything on my son, and my son only?” his mother had shrieked to the principal. “Terrible—and I mean terrible—things could’ve happened to him.”
Renjun sat in silence as the principal and his mother yelled at each other back and forth. He tightly held the top of his shirt together, because the buttons had been ripped off. If he went back to the classroom right now, would he be able to find the buttons and sew them back on? He wasn’t keen on having to go out and buy a new shirt, what a waste of money.
“That’s it, I’m transferring him out of this school, right now,” his mother said in a finalizing voice.
That snapped Renjun out of his daze.
“Wait, what—mom, no, my friends—” he stammered.
“I agree, Mrs. Huang,” the principal hurriedly cut in. “Look, we can just forget about this incident, okay? I’ll let Renjun go and the school can continue on like normal.”
Now his mother was positively fuming. “That’s the whole reason, you dimwit,” she seethed at him. “You want to brush this fiasco under the rug for the sake of the school’s reputation. My son is the top student in his grade yet you blame everything only on him, and you let the alpha go scot-free.”
His mother grabbed onto Renjun’s wrist, pulled him up from the chair, and started towards the door. “Don’t think for a second I’m going to continue letting Renjun attend this god-forsaken school,” she said, and she stomped out of the office, hauling Renjun behind her.
Renjun could hear the principal’s voice of protest get quieter and quieter behind them in his feeble attempt at holding onto his star pupil.
“Mom, please. I’m fine, really. Nothing even happened,” he tried to reason with his mother as she dragged him out into the parking lot.
She halted in front of their car, opened the passenger seat and motioned for Renjun to get in. “Baby, something did happen. It came this close, Renjun, do you understand? This close,” she emphasized, and rubbed at her temples. “I would’ve necked myself if that teacher hadn’t found you in time. And if she really hadn’t, then the principal would’ve tried to keep it hush-hush all the same, that disgusting pig.”
Renjun winced, not used to seeing his mother so livid. “But mom, all my friends—”
“You can still see them anytime, honey. Please,” she begged, closing his shirt because he had let go of it, “I don’t want you in this school anymore.”
And that was that.
They drove home in silence as Renjun miserably watched the neighbourhood houses zoom by, envying the children drawing on the sidewalk. He wished to be that child again, happy, without a care for the world, and without all the sub-gender drama. Life was so simple back then, all the kids would hold hands, sing Ring Around the Rosie, and crash into each other when they ‘all fell down’. Now, those touches held different meanings. A slow stroke of a finger on the wrist, a hand snaked around the waist, a mouth and a nose brushing against the neck.
Hell, it didn’t have to be as an alpha, life would’ve been easier had he just presented even as a beta. But luck was never on Renjun’s side, and instead he was gifted with a set of reproductive organs during his 13th year of life.
The worst part of it was nobody in his family was surprised when he presented. Similarly, nobody was surprised when his brother, Xuxi, presented as an alpha either. Sure, he was scrawny and short, while his brother was all muscle and tall. Sure, he was usually quiet and soft-spoken, while his brother was upfront and loud. Sure, he was—wait, what?
“Stereotypes,” his brother had said. “But stereotypes had to have originated from some kind of truth, right?”
And when they finally arrived home and his mother sat him and his brother down at the dinner table to explain what had happened, the alpha in his brother nearly punched a hole in the drywall.
“Who was it,” Xuxi asked, after willing his anger down. “I’m going to kill him. I’m going to kill him.”
“Ge, please, it was just an accident, and the—hormones,” Renjun cringed and waved his arms around. “It was midterms so we just forgot to take our meds.”
In the end, Renjun never had to say who had done it anyway, because the alpha in question had come up to Xuxi out of his own volition, trying to apologize to Renjun through his brother.
That genuineness had promptly earned himself a black eye and a broken nose.
Renjun only learned of the fact after he had finally come out of his room that he had spent painfully holed up in for the past week, to see his brother lazing around on the living room sofa on a school day.
“What are you doing home?” Renjun had asked. “You don’t look sick.”
Xuxi hummed, raised a fist with knuckles coloured in purple and green, and said with a grin, “suspended for a week.”
Renjun gasped in disbelief and berated his brother, but he let Xuxi ruffle his hair anyway.
Over that same week, Renjun also learned that his mother had already finished applying him to a different school on the other side of their neighbourhood. It was maybe an extra 15 minute walk, Renjun estimated. Nothing he couldn’t handle, except that meant he’d also have to wake up an extra 15 minutes earlier every morning.
“Sorry I can’t be there with you anymore,” his brother said, sulking.
“It’s okay, ge,” Renjun replied, “you’re going to be graduating next year. I’d hate for you to miss out on senior year with your friends.”
The brothers gave each other a tight hug.
That night, he sent his group chat a short message.
Shoulder Gangster
i live
Little Sheep
and hes aliiiiiveeee
Taro Milkshake
heats over??
how you feeling
Shoulder Gangster
im fine
kinda got other things to worry about now though
Full Sun
ugh im gonna miss you so bad :(
at least your brother gave that fucker what he deserved
Little Sheep
ya seriously it was kinda scary ngl lol
Taro Milkshake
i thought he was cool
but im gonna miss you a lot too though...
Shoulder Gangster
shotaro please dont encourage him
man i miss you guys already
Little Sheep
lets all hang out whenever we can
we live so close anyway
we can do scheduled movie nights or something
Full Sun
yooo im so down
Taro Milkshake
yes!!!
Shoulder Gangster
yes pleaseee
Renjun dropped his phone down and sighed. Yangyang was right, they all lived within walking distance of each other, they could just drop by whenever they wanted to.
But what he stressed about was having to make friends all over again. Although cruising through the rest of his school years as a lone wolf was an option he considered, he’d probably regret it when he has to sit alone in the cafeteria, swallowing his lunch in misery, while wistfully watching on as a group of friends laugh together at some dumb meme.
It was also the fact that all his close friends were betas, and Renjun would be lying if he said he wasn’t a little nervous about potentially stepping into a broader sub-gendered friend group. Another male omega would be nice, except male omegas were as rare as they come, so he could only pray.
He closed his eyes, and willed himself to sleep.
Things will come naturally, his mother had told him.
Eventually, his mind drifted further and further away from lucidity, and he let his dreams wash away his anxiety.
—
It took three snoozes of his alarm before Renjun finally woke up, head still groggy. The sun rays peeked through a small gap where his curtains failed to reach, and he cursed the bright morning for being so cheerful when he would prefer a sinkhole to open up and swallow him into the earth.
“Renjun!” his mother rapped on his door. “Are you up yet? Don’t want to be late for your first day.”
Renjun groaned loud enough for his mother to hear. He waited until her footsteps descended and agonizingly pulled himself out of bed.
When he finally made his way downstairs and into the kitchen, he was surprised to find that Xuxi was already sat at the table, lounging with a coffee in hand. He typically woke up at the very last second, shoving whatever breakfast their mother had laid out for them into his mouth while Renjun rushed for him to hurry up. His brother was his ride to school after all.
Renjun raised an eyebrow at the strange scene. “Good morning?”
“Morning, honey,” his mother replied with a smile, setting down his breakfast.
“Good morning, Junjun,” Xuxi said slowly, placing down his coffee. “You must be wondering how I am awake and functioning at this time. You see, mother dear and I have come up with a fascinating plan.”
“O… kay,” Renjun slid into the seat next to Xuxi, apprehensive of the scheming grin his brother had plastered on his face. “And that would be?”
“Well,” Xuxi started, “since you’re going to be going to a new school, and you’re on a million scent blockers now, you’re a blank slate and nobody knows who you are or what you smell like.”
Renjun nodded.
“Well,” Xuxi said again, “I think it’d be fun if you wore my clothes and used my cologne. You know, like, pretend to be an alpha, to fend off all those creeps.”
Renjun looked at his brother, then to his mother, then back to his brother.
They both gave him the same (not) encouraging smile and nod.
“Me,” he said. “You want me to pretend to be an alpha. You guys literally all bet that I would present as an omega since I was like seven! How the hell am I supposed to pass as an alpha?”
“Hey, hey,” Xuxi said, putting a hand up as if to counter Renjun. “I’ve been on the receiving end of your fake tears before. They’re convincing. Just do the opposite of that.”
“Oh my god, ge, I did that one time,” Renjun said, mildly embarrassed.
“And it still worked, you little snake,” Xuxi said, booping Renjun on the nose. “I’m not telling you to act all tough and macho-man or whatever. Just act normal. And maybe don’t be so—meek.”
Renjun scoffed and glared at his brother. “Sorry if meekness is ingrained in my biology.”
“Honey, please,” his mother cut in. “I think it’ll work just fine. You can still tell the truth to any new friends you make, but just as a precaution, I think it would be nice for you to have some protection.”
So, that was how Renjun found himself standing in front of Xuxi’s closet, rummaging through and trying to find the smallest clothes he owned, because curse his stupid brother and his stupid alpha build.
Eventually, he settled on a light blue hoodie he hadn’t seen Xuxi wear since he presented, having outgrown the size too rapidly. Since it hadn’t been worn all that much, the material was still soft and smooth, and Renjun embarrassingly felt the urge to nest in it.
“Wow, I totally forgot I even owned that,” his brother said, playing with his phone on his bed. He dropped it and came over to Renjun, giving him a sniff. “Well, as long as it still smells like me, it works.”
“Can’t do much about the pants, though,” he continued, lifting up a pair of jeans and raised them over Renjun’s lanky body. The waistband was too wide and the pant legs dragged on the floor. “Unless you want to wear my sweatpants. Or maybe you can start storing your clean pants in my closet? My scent will naturally get on them that way.”
“Maybe I should just do that with the rest of my clothes then,” Renjun said. “All your clothes are way too big for me.”
As if to prove a point, he took out the sweater Xuxi had worn yesterday, and held it over his torso. It drooped down so far the sleeves completely hid his hands, and the hem of the sweater almost reached his mid-thigh.
“Aww, come on, oversized is cute though.”
“Doesn’t that kind of defeat the purpose?” Renjun retorted.
Xuxi thought about it for a second. “Touché.”
“Are you boys ready yet?” their mother called from downstairs.
“One sec,” Xuxi yelled back. He sauntered over to his dresser and opened up the topmost drawer; the contents inside clinked against each other. “Voila. Take your pick.”
Renjun peeked inside to see a myriad of little glass bottles in vibrant colours. When and how did his brother ever end up collecting so much perfume? Renjun could only remember smelling the same calming sea-salt fragrance off of him every day.
“Why the hell do you own this much perfume?” Renjun asked.
His brother shrugged. “Most of them were gifts, honestly. People are obsessed with scents and wanted me to smell a certain way, but,” he tinkered through the bottles and picked out one that was a simple square, tinted in black with a gold label stuck on the front. He waved it in front of Renjun. “I personally like this one the best, got it myself.”
Renjun squinted at it. “Looks expensive.”
“Smells expensive too,” Xuxi laughed, and he grabbed Renjun’s wrists and spritzed it on his sleeves.
Renjun didn’t even have to lift his arm up to smell it, the spicy scent of pimento and cedarwood permeated his nose without warning. He reeled back, surprised. He couldn’t remember his brother ever smelling like that.
“Good?” Xuxi asked.
Renjun nodded, a little too fast.
Xuxi grinned, pleased at the brother-approval stamp, and continued to spray the perfume around the rest of Renjun’s body. He then brought the bottle right up to Renjun’s neck, only for his hand to be slapped away.
“I’m already on the strongest scent blockers, that’s a little overboard.”
Xuxi shrugged. “Suit yourself,” and he capped the bottle shut.
That was how Renjun stepped into his new school: drenched in an alpha’s scent. It wasn’t the same as getting scented though, in which case the possessiveness and claim would be clearly obvious.
This was different. He smelled convincingly alpha enough that when he had finally stepped back into the kitchen, his mother had come up to him with a frown and wrinkled her nose, upset.
“I know this was partly my idea, but…” she pouted. She sniffed the air around Renjun, and heartbrokenly said, “I can’t smell my baby anymore.”
“What the—” Xuxi said behind Renjun, “aren’t I your baby too?”
On top of that, there were already enough students roaming the halls to overwhelm him, even though his mother had dropped him off earlier so he could familiarize himself. And unfortunately for Renjun, he had always been quite susceptible to smells.
It wasn’t just the people either. The lockers, the floors, the walls. Everything smelled different. Foreign.
It was disorienting.
He missed his old school and friends so badly he was afraid his miserable omega odor might just seep out.
He gripped the top edge of his hoodie and brought it up to his nose, breathing in his brother’s scent, and it comforted him instantly. Perhaps this isn’t such a bad idea after all, he thought.
A jock looking boy that was chatting with his friend didn’t seem to notice Renjun, and he accidentally bumped into him as they passed by. Renjun slammed into the lockers and willed himself not to whimper back, getting hit with the jock’s alpha scent.
“What—hey, watch it—” the jock began to say, but he stopped when he caught a whiff of ‘Renjun’s’ scent. “Oh. Sorry,” he simply said after a pause, scratched his head, and walked away.
Renjun released the air in his lungs he had unknowingly held in, once again thankful that his brother had a more dominating scent than the average alpha. This really isn’t such a bad idea after all.
“Whoa, you okay?” a sudden voice behind him asked.
Renjun nearly jumped, and whirled around.
The boy that stood in front of him had sharp features on his face, but he was smiling at Renjun with a wide and toothy grin, as if he was saying hi to a long-time friend. He offered a hand out to Renjun.
“Hi! Didn’t mean to scare you. I’m Jaemin. I’m on the student council and the principal asked me to show you around later,” he said. “Renjun, right? Thought I’d introduce myself since I spotted you just now anyway.”
“Just act normal. And maybe don’t be so—meek.”
“Um. I’m Renjun, yes. Hi,” Renjun said as confidently as he could. He cautiously took Jaemin’s hand and shook it. He couldn’t smell anything on him, perhaps he was a beta?
“Cool, cool,” Jaemin said, and glanced at his phone. “Well, it’s almost time for classes to start. What do you have first?”
No, even betas still had a scent to them, no matter how faint. Jaemin’s scent was being deliberately blocked, which meant, he had to be an alpha or omega.
“Uh,” Renjun fumbled with his schedule. “Calculus.”
Please be omega.
“Ah, math courses are going to be up on the second floor at the end of the hall behind the black doors,” Jaemin pointed out. “The bell’s about to ring soon, so you should get going in case you get lost. I’ll see you later!”
Renjun thanked him and waved him goodbye, grateful that his first encounter seemed to at least have been with someone kind, and he made his way up to his first class in his new and foreign school.